Counterforce
by Pyroteknix
Summary: 8 pilots in a group that works with the GF are thrown in the middle of a war between rebels and the rest of Zi. Guess who's the mastermind behind all this chaos? Note: first story, read and review! 13th chapter's up already!
1. Daybreak

Zoids:Counterforce Pyroteknix  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any zoid, character or anything related to Zoids. I only own this story.  
  
A small blue Gunsniper races across the Elemia Desert. Inside, JC, a young pilot running sweeps for sleeper zoids for his small town, hums a short tune while expertly manipulating his powerful velociraptor back home after a long day of patrol duty. His ignorant bliss is cut short when his zoid's powerful legs step over the final sand dune separating him from his small village. Embers and thick smoke fill the hot air as a single red T-rex type zoid scorches the surroundings with a powerful charged particle beam emanating from it's gaping jaws. It's attack is temporarily halted as a lone Zaber Fang tackles the scarlet behemoth, the feline zoid's attack merely distracting it. Using a powerful pincer, the red zoid scoops up the Zaber Fang easily and tosses it on top of JC's house, sending debris everywhere. Something snapped in JC's mind, making him realize who was in the Zaber Fang. "Jacob! Do you hear me buddy?" JC asks to his long time friend and companion. A staticky image appears on JC's HUD, "JC, I couldn't even save one home here," The bleeding face of Jacob, replies. " I'm sorry man." "No! Wait! I'll save you, just hang on there!" JC pilots his Gunsniper toward the destructive force that blew up his village; his zoid's missile launcher covers popping up. Roaring with rage, Jc presses the fire button on his controls sending 24 missiles streaming at the enemy zoid, simultaneously using his zoid's machine guns to pepper his foe. Pulling up the brakes, his predominantly blue velociraptor type zoid warily waited for the smoke to clear, only to get rewarded with a swipe from his enemy's tail, sending him and his zoid over the dunes and skid across meters of rough sand. His head bashed against the wall, knocking him out faster than a Lightning Saix.  
  
JC wakes up, shaking his brown haired head as he stares at a guy shaking his shoulder. The color of the sky was purplish, indicating early morning. " Hey, you alright there?" "Must have hit my head on the wall of my zoid, knocking the cockpit hatch open." He thinks to himself, the only words coming out of his mouth being: "Uhuh." But his dazed attitude disappears like a flash as he remembered the events preceding his unconciousness. His body jolts upright from his lay-down position, his face a mask of anger and sadness. "What happened to my town? Answer me now!" He says, choking the poor man's collar. "Your village? Now that's weird." The guy says scratching his head. " Yeah, it was my village, before some freak in this powerful zoid blows it up!" He says, frustration highlighting every sylablle. "Uhuh." The guy says sarcastically "As in you mr. Freak with powerful zoid." This of course caused a jaw drop by JC "I, Lt. Max of the Preventers, arrest you under suspicion of destroying this settlement." His actions based on pure instinct, JC closes his zoid's cockpit and races away from Lt. Max. Moving as swiftly as a wolf, the Preventer Lt hops in his own zoid, an upgraded Command Wolf Urban outfitted with the same type of gatling gun as that of a Shadow Fox, signalling his back up troops to appear. A Lightning Saix and a Venomous Viper, both piloted by Max's friends from the Preventers, a first strike team organized for helping the Guardian Force in various missions, even if there was a small hatred for each other currently. The 3 zoids chased JC's Gunsniper across the desert, occasionally shooting craters behind the mechanical velociraptor. Using skills leaving Max and his teammates in awe, JC dug 1 claw of his zoid's foot into the ground; concurrently activating it's thrusters as well, resulting in him facing the 3 advancing zoids head on. Activating his front claw based machine guns, he disables both the Lightning Saix and the Venomous Viper, the Lightning Saix's right leg taken out while the Gunsniper's bullets penetrated the spine of the latter. Max, showing amazing skills of his own, somersaulted over the Gunsniper, shooting his giant gatling gun as soon as his Command Wolf's paws touched the ground. But JC was already moving, Max's bullets striking sand as he countered with a volley of missiles, which were picked out of the sky by Max's giant pea- shooter. Inching backwards, he fired a relentless rain of bullets at the advancing Command Wolf, which skillfully dodged all of them while retaliating with his gun. The battle was fast becoming a one-sided duel as Max repeatedly dodged JC's shots, his shots striking the Gunsniper's armor in reply. With a quick teeter-totter motion, the swaying catching JC off guard,he tackled the Gunsniper, sending it crashing to it's knees. "Gotcha"  
  
End of chapter.  
  
This is my first fic so pls review!!! 


	2. Dawn

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
Addition to my previous disclaimer: The Preventers in my fanfic are completely different from the Gundam Endless Waltz Preventers, aside from the name.  
  
3 weeks later, JC strolls away from the mini-courtroom of the Preventer's base located at the fringe of the Empire's Capital, not really a choice locaton for a base, as most Preventers were Republic Supporters during the war and most of them still harbor dissent towards the Empire and objects affiliated with it. JC, happy with being acquitted from his case, walks toward his temporary room in the base, seeing as is his previous home was destroyed. "So," Lt. Max walks out of an adjacent corridor. "Where you going after we release you?" JC shrugs to his sometime good friend, sometime worst enemy." Find the guy who destroyed my town, then kill him in battle." Max chews his tongue, leaning his lanky body on the cold steel wall. "I ran a check on the design of the zoid you described to me, my first fears came true." The Preventer Lt shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "You know Raven right?" He asks JC. "No, who is he? I never heard of the guy." JC asks tentatively. " Raven is the most wanted criminal in the entire planet Zi." "Damn. And I suppose he pilots some super powerful t-rex type zoid?" Max nods his head. "Shows what a backwater town he came from." Max thinks. "We have records that show that his zoid, the Genobreaker, has a charged particle beam. There are only 4 zoid types that have one, and only 2 of them are t-rex types." JC cracks his knuckles, grinning. " Alright! Tell me his most recent appearance aside from my town." Max's mouth turns into an even wider grin."Classified info, you need to be a Preventer first" JC rests his head on his right hand, messing up his hair. "So you're forcing me to join you Preventers to find Raven eh?" Max raises his hands. "Okay, I admit, you're not so stupid after all." "I'll think about it." Max turns away and heads back to his room. "Tell me if you want to join." He calls back.  
  
"Ah, Raven, good work collecting the data about those Preventers. I need you to collect a bit more though." Raven smiles. "How much for the job, and do I get to kill anyone?" "Double your previous pay, Raven. However, you don't get to kill anyone." Raven grimaces. "What's the fun in owning the world's most powerful zoid if you can't kill anyone with it." His mysterious contact replies, his voice full of malice. "But, during the battle, a Gunsniper might appear, you can annihilate him and his zoid completely. He is the lone survivor of the attack on the village, JC." Raven's voice is filled with evil glee. "Thank you sir!"  
  
"Red Alert! I Repeat, Red Alert!" Lt. Max races across the corridor, red light filling it due to the crimson tint of the emergency light. "Shit! Why did the Genobreaker have to appear now! Were short of men and JC just left minutes ago!" Max runs into the garage and stands still for a while, as he watched the sheer chaos. People running everywhere, pilots in their red and black jumpsuits, cushioned pads on the suit's elbows, knees and shoulders. Technicians and mechanics in their yellow and black jumpsuits, their suits only differing from the pilot's in the color scheme and the fact that the mechanics wore earmuffs to drown out the noise of flying zoids' takeoff. "Guio, Dean!" Max calls to his partners and friends, the pilots who controlled the Lightning Saix and Venomous Viper, respectively. "Hey Max! I can't fight in my Racer (name of Dean's Venomous Viper), his gyroscope isn't functioning accurately, I can't control him!" Guio merely nods and hops into his zoid, activating it's immensly powerful legs and boosters. "Let's go Max!" He shouts. Max jumps into his zoid, the same upgraded Command Wolf Urban he used to apprehend JC. " Hey, RG! How's your Dibison? Is it ready to take the Genobreaker on again?" RG, a tan skinned Lt who happened to fight the Genobreaker prior to this event and lose completely, smirks. " You watch your back, Max, I'm ready for him!" Max, Guio, RG and RG's troops race out to meet the Genobreaker, currently tearing through the Preventer forces like a hot knife through butter. Max takes a deep breath, "Okay guys! Were going in!"  
  
End of chapter 2  
  
Thanks to my really, really small group of supporters. 


	3. The arrival of Raven

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
Earlier, "What the bloody hell wazzat?" JC exclaimed, apparently because of a red blur streaking across the desert as he piloted his Gunsniper away from the Preventer Base after deciding that he could find the Genobreaker by himself. "Genobreaker!!!" He hits his head as self-punishment for not thinking faster. "Damn! I've got to help Max and the Preventers! Let's go Gunsniper!" He shouts, urging on his zoid, the Gunsniper replying with a roar and a burst of speed in return to JC's sudden burst of emotion. His zoid races across the burning sand; it's legs equalling the speed of Guio's Lightning Saix when they race head to head. " Whoa! Wish I could do this during those races I have with Guio after patrols!"  
  
"Jake! Martin! Carlos! What's your situation?" RG asks his troops, his voice quivering with concern for his fellow men. "C'mon guys! Respond!" RG slams his fist into his zoid's control panel in frustration. "Shit! Time for payback!" Max's face appears on RG's HUD. "Hitting your zoid isn't going to work, RG. And neither will vengeance, especially unnecessary vengeance." "Watcha talking about Max?" Max smiles. "We came prepared. Your men are in Emergency Gustavs. I ordered them to be ready in case Raven wanted to finish the job of destroying the village, and it's inhabitants." RG mouths an "Oh" then his face is back into its usual serious scowl. " Okay, Max you take the left side of the delta formation, Guio, the right side. I'll take the lower-most position. Let's go guys!" Guio's face appears on the right of Max's face on RG's HUD."Max, ready to go!" "Affirmative, Lt. RG" Guio replies in his trademark monotonous tone. All 3 zoids, a feline, a canine and a giant bull, piloted by Guio, Max and RG respectively, charge into the path of the Genobreaker which is currently using it's powerful tail to sweep 2 zoids off their feet, simultaneously using it's extendable claws to grab and rip apart any zoid standing in between him and the complete and total destruction of the Preventer base. Any zoid except a certain Dibison, Lightning Saix and Command Wolf. "Okay team, move in!" Ammunition rained down like hail on the Genobreaker, it's near indestructible armor glancing of the bullets and artillery like pebbles. Firing out its extendable claws through the smoke, Raven's red tyrannosaurus type zoid weaved his claws in and out, their sharp edges barely missing Max's Comand Wolf as Max showed off a bit, his zoid an indistinct blur as he dodged Raven's moves expertly. "Grrr!!! Eat this you amateur!" Raven shouted, his zoid swiping Max in midair, knocking him straight into a transport Gustav, its thick armor making Max's Command Wolf collapse in a heap, temporarily out of commision. "Max!" But this puny distraction was all Raven needed to get the party started. "Die!!!" The Genobreaker fires its ultimate weapon, the Charged Particle Beam. The beam slices through the air and through the legs of RG's Dibison, disabling his bull-type zoid. "Can't control it!!!!" Rg says, his voice shaking as his zoid tumbles sideways into the dusty ground. " This time, I'm on target." Raven grins, his charged particle beam cannon directed squarely on the Dibison's head, the location of the pilot's seat where RG was located. "Don't count me out Raven!" Guio's Lightning Saix rammed the Genobreaker, his attack apparently the only one that had any effect on the Genobreaker's thick armor. " Damn you to hell!" Raven curses, shifting his zoid's weight and dodging Guio's follow up tackle, leaving his Lightning Saix's legs open to an attack. Ripping off the feline zoid's back legs with his strong pincers like a man tearing a paper in half, Raven powered up his zoid's beam cannon. " Time to meet your maker you pesky brats!" "Raven! Do not kill the Preventers!" Raven curses. " Damn! What difference does it make anyway?" The voice replies harshly "No pay Raven." "Damn you fool! 'Kay I'm leaving." " Not yet Raven. I've got a score to settle with you." The Genobreaker turns to face it's adversary, the lone functional combat zoid aside from Raven's. JC's Gunsniper charges at the Genobreaker, its guns ablaze as it peppered the crimson giant with special armor piercing ammunition that JC "borrowed" from the Preventers. "Even with those special bullets, nothing can penetrate my armor!" Raven shouts as his zoids stats fall quickly. "Out of ammo." JC says, his fingers pressing switches, which change the type of bullets his claw-based guns use, and activating his missile launchers. "Fire!!!" Raven fires a continous beam of energy emanating from his zoid's mouth at the small but powerful Gunsniper, searing the air as JC pilots his zoid away from the awesome destructive force known as the charged particle beam. " My turn! Missile launch!" Vast quantities of missiles shoot up from behind the Gunsniper, slamming into the Genobreaker with enough force to actually send the beast to its knees. Raven struggles desperately to keep his zoid balanced as warning signs flash in his face. "How can he do this much!?!" Raven pushes his zoid's acceleration lever to its limit, sending his Genobreaker right at the small blue velociraptor type zoid. "Payback time Raven!" Using skills way past the conventional limit of most pilots, JC throws his zoid's weight to one side, activating his zoid's thrusters and jumping at the same time, all while keeping his machine guns trained at Raven's zoid. Somersaulting over the Genobreaker, bullets' damaging the crimson giant's near impenetrable as he hovers upside down over the monster, JC's mouth turns into a grin as he inches closer and closer to beating his self-proclaimed nemesis, he taunts Raven who is already getting more and more infuriated. "Why don't you just give up Raven? You're going to lose anyway." He says, his voice flavored with mock seriousness. "Not today, flyboy!" Raven exclaims, his fingers deftly manipulating the Genobreaker's controls. The red tail of the Genobreaker lashes out, slamming the cobalt Gunsniper, throwing it off its feet. " Now you die amateur!" Raven yells at the stunned JC. His zoid's mouth opens to fire the charged particle beam but his attack is rudely interrupted. "Sorry I'm late! Marv fixed the bug in my gyros!" A Venomous Viper appears out of the ground underneath the Genobreaker, firing its guns at the underside of the Genobreaker. "Dean! Alright man!" Max yells punching the air in his Command Wolf, hitting his fist on the ceiling of his cockpit. "Aaaah! I can't take this anymore!" Raven pilots his zoid away from the Preventers. "Damn you all to hell! I'll return to finish the job!!!" He screams while he retreats from the battlefield.  
  
A short while later, "Hey Max, I've decided." Max turns to face JC as they walk through the Preventer hall. "Mmmm?" Max asks without words. "I've decided to become a Preventer. You need my skills anyway." Max grins. " Yeah! Although the part where you say we need your skills, I think not." JC's shoulders slump. "Cut the jokes Max! Do I get the job or what?" "Yes, yes, you get the job. And I got the perfect callsign for you!" JC's eyes roll. "You have callsigns?" Max nods his head seriously. "Yep, mine's Osiris. Don't know where that came from though." " Okay! So what's mine then?" JC asks rather impatiently. "Sniper, from your zoid." Max smiles exuberantly. "That's a load of crap." 


	4. First round: Stealth Fighter

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
Thanks to my good friends for supporting me and giving me ideas! Especially for the characters!  
  
Disclaimer: Anything in my story that has anything to do with Zoids tm does not belong to me, I just stuck them in my own twisted world.  
  
Lt. Max and Lt.RG of the Preventers ride through the darkness in their Command Wolf and Dibison, Max lazily piloting the Command Wolf while RG kept a vigilant watch for anything as he seriously controlled his giant zoid. "I don't mind fighting battles alongside you, Max, but going on missions with you is completely different." RG complains, the tiring work of guiding his zoid through a mountain pass and over frozen tundra, which they were currently in, getting to him. Max replies in his usual immature voice. "Geez, its not my fault you're piloting your zoid like somethings going to pop out any minute." RG snaps back tensely "What if something does then?" Max smiles. "I wipe him out of the face of this planet." RG whacks his head in surrender. "You're impossible to argue with." Max smiles even more. "Thank you o great and all-knowing one." He says mockingly. "Can't you say something intelligent for a change?" "Don't think so." RG pounds his control panel in frustration. "I can't believe they sent me on a mission during the annual Preventer zoid competition!!!" Max slumps in his seat. "So I've heard, about, let's see, 27 times. RG, it's not that important." RG glares at him. "Okay, okay, maybe it is." Max says, shrinking in his seat.  
  
JC walks confidently in the steel plated corridor of the Preventer base as he heads toward the base's zoid arena. Thoughts of winning the annual Preventer zoid competition racing through his mind as he thought of various ways to pulverize Dean, the top ranking fighter so far. "After I win this," he thought happily, "I'll be even more famous around here than Max, RG or any other high ranking official." Max never bothered to enter the contest, thinking of "better" ways to spend his time such as playing checkers against the computer, which made him checkers king in the base, and drawing battle plans, a few of his hobbies. JC knows that RG was bent on finally being more than just 3rd place in this tournament, after spending 6 tournaments, 2 contests every year, inferior in ranking to Guio and Dean. But unfortunately, he was assigned to a mision with the king of all good- for-nothings, Max. "Hey JC, sorry to burst your bubble, but you better get ready to be beaten." Dean says, glowing in the power and fame you get after winning a competition of 500 people 6 years running. "I've got a few tricks up both my sleeves, JC. Tricks you can't beat." JC shoots back. "Well even your tricks won't save you Dean, cuz I've got 5 aces in my hand. Now excuse me, I've got a match to win." Dean smiles as JC walks away. "This guy's gonna be a serious contender for me and Guio." Guio walks out of hiding place in the shadows. "Maybe." He says dryly. Guio and Dean grin and high five each other.  
  
"JC versus Jico in the first match for today! And here comes the green light." 4 red lights turn on, closing in on the emerald light which will start the match between JC and his Gunsniper versus Jico, a quiet and reserved boy, and his Helcat, a small cat-type zoid with stealth capabilities. "and.GO!!!" Jico's Helcat disappears in a flash, shocking JC who never saw a zoid with stealth capabilities. "And it looks like Jico is going for an easy win!" Gritting his teeth, JC focuses searching the ground for any abnormal patterns, finally spotting a circle of footsteps around him. "He should be right here." He says, taking in the damage reports as the Helcat strafed him. "Now!!!" Firing his machine guns at a seemingly empty spot, he scores a direct hit on the stealth activator of the agile zoid, removing Jico's cloak. Firing shots everywhere, JC desperately tries to attack the elusive Helcat, his nervous attitude the exact opposite of the calm, almost scary, expression of Jico. Jico's feline zoid pounces at the Gunsniper like a cat on a mouse. Cleverly anticipating the attack, JC ducks and fires his missiles straight up as Jico was directly above him. Sending the Helcat to the ground, JC changes his Gunsniper's attack mode to sniping mode and lays the glowing crosshair on the leg of the Helcat, a vital part of that particular zoid as it relies heavily on it's agility. In less than a second the battle is over as JC disables the Helcat with an armor-piercing sniper bullet. "And JC wins the match!" The commentator announces. JC shakes hands with his opponent, his rival's face in its usual quiet yet intelligent expression after the exciting battle. "Good match Jico!" JC says, congratulating his opponent. Jico merely nods while smiling as he walks away. JC shrugs, silently being freaked out at his ex-opponent's silence. Jico turns to face JC. " Oh, and your zoids right leg alignment is off by around 37 degrees." The silent boy informs JC. A little while later, "Hey Marv! Can you check my zoids right leg alignment?" Marvin, the mechanic in Max's squad of soldiers, looks up from tuning his zoid, a Shadow Fox, which just came from a match in Marv's, as the soldiers like to call him, favor. "Sure." A few minutes afterward, "It's off by 35 degrees. I'll fix it in a snap." JC looks amazed as he recalled what the Helcat pilot Jico said, ".off by around 37 degrees." "I'd like someone like him on my team." JC says, thinking of the modifications Jico could make on his Gunsniper to improve its combat potential and bring him a few steps nearer to beating Raven or Max. In the Odlan Ice Mountains, Lt. RG rappelled down the cliffside of the Iuga Drop, a sheer descent of more than 300 ft. "Stampede to Osiris, I am clear of the cliff. Proceeding with patrol." Max's voice comes out in staticky bursts. "This is Osiris, hurry up! The potatoes are freezing up already!" RG squinted in the direction of a small flash of light. He rubbed his eyes as he stared at what appeared to be a mountain, which was apparently getting distorted by some immense energy field. Checking his tracker, he radioed Max back in camp. "This is Stampede, send me the energy readouts for the coordinates 37,42." "This is Osiris, will do. Return to base, we still need to head for Mt. Isolina's rebuilt city." RG grabbed his pickaxe and made his way up the cliff wall again. RG was halfway through his climb when Max radioed him. Reaching for his radio with his weary arms, he answered unenthusiastically. "Cut the codenames RG, it's a cloaking field." RG almost drops his radio in surprise. "Damn! The rebel army is getting supplied by someone then." RG replies. "I wonder who it could be? There are only a few people who can afford stealth technology that isnt on a Helcat." Max answers back. "Max, call HQ now. We need air support." Max replies in a panicky manner. "I can't reach them! Were being jammed!" RG groans dejectedly "Were going to die."  
  
End of chapter 4 


	5. Newcomer and Second Round: Revraptor!

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
I'm still using the chapter 1 disclaimer along with the chapter 2 addition.  
  
Wonder why I always use first names instead of last names?  
  
I dedicate this chapter to my relatives, Bea, Benjie, Dom, Trina and Erika.  
"Seargent Mikee, what is the current situation in the Isolina Mission?" The nervous officer replies agitatedly. "We've lost contact with Lts. RG and Max. They seem to be being jammed by someone." Corporal Victor slams his desk. "Get reinforcements over there then!" He shouts angrily. "Sir, all of our zoids are being repaired because of the tournament. We don't have any available zoid capable of climbing the mountains." Corporal Victor messes his hair up, tangling it until it became a mini-jungle. "Get a special force trooper here, now!" Mikee nervously questions his commanding officer. "Why not the Guardian Force, sir? Their base is closer to the mountain range." Victor replies with a shout. "The Guardian Force!?! You want to ask the Guardian Force? That sleazeball Van Flyheight isnt going to help us, he'll just laugh at our futility!!!" Mikee quickly nods. "Yessir, I'll get the special forces here right away, sir!" He says, hurriedly exiting Victor's spacious office.  
  
"RG! Behind you!" In the Oldan Mountains located in the Mountain range of Isolina, Lt. Max of the Preventers warns his fellow Lt, RG. RG's Dibison turns around and fires its multiple giant cannons at an approaching Zaber Fang, its armor colored white as to hide it in the perpetually snowing climate of the Isolina Mt range. Its giant artillery type ammunition explodes onto the feline zoid, dropping the mechanical cat to its knees. "You watch your back, Max!" Max expertly pilots his Command Wolf, jumping in between the rebel army's zoids. 2 years ago, the Preventers discovered a rebel army intent on taking over the entirety of planet Zi. They successfully beat back the rebels and believed they had wiped out all but the smallest piece of scrap zoid armor. Unfortunately, the Preventers information gathering section discovered that a man was supplying the rebels with weaponry and zoids, helping the rebels slowly regain power. Max's Command Wolf leaped on top of a Zaber Fang and propelled his canine zoid to a jagged cliff, an ideal spot for strafing down rebel Zaber Fangs with a Shadow Fox type gatling gun. And that's just what he did, taking down 4 of the rebel war machines with heavy ammunition. Below him RG gored another Zaber Fang with his zoid's gigantic horns, firing the other zoids with his cannons. "Hey Max! We can't hold this battle much longer! Let's retreat back to the cave!" RG said, suggesting that they go back to a small cave they found for shelter after the rebels first attacked them. "Affirmative, close your eyes, I'm going to fire a flasher!" RG shuts his eyes quickly. A bright flash blinds all their opponents, leaving Max and RG ample time to run away to safety.  
  
"Sir, I've found a trooper willing to go." Seargent Mikee returns with good news for Corporal Victor. "Well, who is it?" Victor says looking up from his paperwork. "A soldier named Joseph, sir." Mikee says, looking at his data for reference. "Joseph, wasn't he the man who single-handedly defeated 17 Hel Digunners of the rebels?" Mikee checks his papers again, shuffling his research with his thumb until he found what he wanted. "Yessir, he pilots a Liger Zero Shneider unit according to my research. He even wants to join the Preventers after this assignment.""Corporal Victor smiles. " Tell him their last known location and send him there." He said, signalling Mikee away with his hand. "Oh, and Mikee, good job on the research. You outdid yourself there." Mikee replies happily "Thank you, sir"  
  
Jico, JC's previous opponent in the tournament who JC beat, was tuning his Helcat's leg, apparently working on its agility and turning speed. "Hey Jico!" JC calls him, running across the garage. Jico looks up while wiping the grease off his yellow and black jumpsuit, signifying that he was a mechanic like Marvin most of the time, also showing that his above average zoid piloting skills weren't develped normally in battle, unlike Max and himself who actually spent time on the battlefield. Questioning JC with his eyes, he watches him in silent acknowledgement of his yell. "Hey Jico, I was wondering if you would like to be my zoid's personal mechanic during and after this tournament." JC says, his energetic mouth moving up and down as he talked animatedly. Jico just stood there, scratching of grease from his suit. "C'mon Jico! I checked your mechanic records, you're almost as good as Marvin!" Taking it as a compliment of great magnitude, Jico's chest swelled with pride and his lips formed an infectious smile. "He looks like a rabbit when he smiles." JC thinks, silently laughing at his personal joke. "I give up, you'll never answer." JC throws up his arms in defeat and walks away. "Sure, I'll be your zoid's mechanic." Jico says just before JC walks out of earshot. "Really? Thanks man!" JC says suddenly appearing in front of him in a flash, shaking his hand vigorously. "JC, please report to the arena with your Gunsniper!" A speaker says overhead, every syllable it produced vibrating off the walls due to its immensely loud volume. JC dashes across the garage, leaving Jico to go back to his Helcat's leg.  
  
Lt. RG quietly ate Max's cooked potatoes as Max noisily munched on his own creation while they huddled around the fire in their small cave. RG stops chewing to reprimand Max for eating so noisily, thinks about it and decides it'll be impossible to say anything that will affect Max's sloppy manners. Max looks up from his potatoes and asks RG a typical casual Max question. "Wanna play checkers?" Max asks honestly. "What else is there to do?" RG says his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. Max climbs up his inactive Command Wolf faster than a monkey with an army of hyenas chasing it and returns with a checkerboard. A few minutes later, "I win again!" Max exclaims, pumping the air. Living up to his name as checker king of the Preventer Base, Max won all 25 games they played in a total time less than 7 minutes. "I give up, lets patrol for Zaber Fangs. I need some exercise." Max nods, tucks his board under his armpit and jumps up his zoid as RG climbs up his Dibison. "Let's go, Max!" The two zoids swiftly exit their partially concealed hiding place. Unknown to them, a lone zoid watches their movements from a distance.  
  
JC's Gunsniper hopped off a wall as he avoided the blasts coming at him from the technically inferior Revraptor's guns. "And King seems to be the dominating fighter here!" The commentator says, complimenting JC's challenger's skills. The Revraptor moves quickly, closing the gap in between his zoid and JC's. The blades pop out of the side of the Revraptor's boosters, their deadly crescent shape moving like lightning towards the Gunsniper as he bounded across the arena. Dean sat on the higher seats of the circular arena's multiple benches for spectators. He watched intently, quietly taking down notes on JC's battle tactics and movements, trying to pinpoint a weakness in his game plan so that if they faced off in the finals, he'd be ready. "Looks like JC's in trouble." He contemplated high above the heated battle below. "What a move!" The commentator yelled as JC's Gunsniper imitated the wall-hopping strategy of King in reverse switching his position from prey to predator. Sweat drops from his forehead as he fires his machine guns, which the agile Revraptor dodges as gracefully as the wind. Dean stares at the battle below him in amazement. "According to my calculations, that type of wall-hopping shouldn't be possible for such a heavy velociraptor type zoid!" He said, simultaneously writing down that particular move which JC pulled off. "It'll take immense skills for that to have been successful." Down below, the Revraptor moved from side to side as it dodged all the missiles the Gunsniper, currently inching away, was shooting at it. "Kidding!" JC's Gunsniper crouches as King's Revraptor jumps over it, leaving JC with a very shortlived feeling of triumph. The Revrapror showed off with one of it's own skills, spinning in the air vertically, releasing it's blades at the particular moment, cutting off the missile launcher of the Gunsniper like a deadly top. Landing on its feet, the Revraptor turned around and fired its relatively weak guns at the damaged Gunsniper. Wiithout losing his pace one bit, Jc, proficiently dodged the shots and hopped in the air to avoid a running slash by the Revraptor. Countering with a skill rivalling those of any other pilot on the planet Zi, JC activated his Gunsniper's sniper mode in the air, firing the armor-penetrating bullet straight through the Revraptor's leg as it skidded to a halt after its running slash while falling through the air. Reactivating his zoid's normal mode in a split second, he skillfully landed on both of his Gunsniper's feet as King's Revraptor fell on its damaged leg, ending the battle with a lot of awe-struck spectators. Dean, also staring like the many others who witnessed that air sniping, dropped his pen instantly. "No way! Hitting a moving target while moving through the air! Sniping, no less!" Picking up his pen from the floor, Dean quickly jotted down what he saw while heading for the exit. "Nah, must've been fluke."  
  
"Yahoo! Fire away, Max!" RG yelled as he rode his Dibison straight through the rebel Zaber Fangs. The Command Wolf of Max playing cat and dog with his gatling gun as he shot down quite a number. RG's Dibison blasted a path with its humongous cannons, Zaber Fangs exploding as the cannon's shells hit them. Blasting a few more zoids out of his way with his gun, Max piloted his Command Wolf over his opponent's spinning in the air to come skidding behind the Zaber Fangs, shooting their legs off. The giant bull-type zoid that belongs to RG herded a dozen of the rebel's zoids into the cliffside. "Watch this, Max! I'll show you how to use the environment!" RG targetted all his Dibison's cannons, this move coined the "Megolamax" by Lt. Thomas Shuboltz of the Guardian Force who also happens to own a Dibison, on the exact spot separating his zoid from the Zaber Fangs. The powerful shells explode on contact with the snowed over floor, cracking the ice and sending all the rebel's zoids into the dark abyss that lay below them as the ice platform on which they were on fell. Max decided to equal RG's technique with a leaping shot, in which he shot all the zoids in a straight line in front of him. Both of the Preventers are sent to the icy floor as shells fired from a Red Horn hit them. The two ace pilots struggle to get their zoids' balance back but the incessant firing of the triceratops type zoid and its Zaber Fang comrades. "I can't hold it!!!" Max says, his fingers desperately trying to regain control over hisCommand Wolf. Inside RG's cockpit, the same situation is happening as RG manipulates his Dibison's controls frantically. The camouflaged Red Horn closes in on the 2 Preventers, firing at them as they squirmed powerlessly on the icy mountain floor."Let's finish em!" The group of rebels, 30 or more zoids in the group, aim their cannons and guns at the cockpit section of the zoids. Like an eagle swooping from the skies to attack its prey, an orange shape darts across the ice two gigantic blades exposing themselves as one blade cuts all the way through the cannon of the Red Horn like a hot knife through butter. "This is Joseph of the Imperial special forces. I'm here to provide assistance in your mission." The special force soldier proves his title by cutting through the remaining Zaber Fangs with his blue blades, reminiscent of the blades of Van Flyheight's Blade Liger. Scared by the quick and efficient destruction of their allies, the rest of the Zabers quickly retreat, Joseph taking down a few more of them with his Liger Zero Shneider unit's mini-cannons. "You two alright?" He asks, his face appearing on both of the Preventers'HUDs. Both RG's and Max's faces reply with a genuine expression of sheer awe. RG cuts off his transmission with Joseph and privately talks to Max. "He's almost as good as we are."Max replies casually. "But he's not as good as us is he?" RG hits his head with a resounding splosh. "I give up. You really are the most egotistical person alive!" He says, surrendering to Max's child-like attitude and ways. "Why thank you, RG." RG hits his head again, as spending more than a week in confinement with the king of jokers, Lt. Max of the Preventers, can drive a man off his rocker. Joseph's face reappears on their screen. "Is there a problem here?" Max bursts out in hysterical laughter. "Is he alright?" Joseph asks RG, twirling his fingers beside his ear, questioning Max's sanity. Cutting off the transmission from Max's eyes and ears, RG sadly shakes his head and replies with a no.  
  
End of chapter  
  
My longest chapter yet, isnt it?  
  
Oh yeah! Pls. add Ian, Nico, Enzo S. and Martin to my dedication!  
I am ____ Gana of Aguinaldo if you don't believe me Pimpoy. 


	6. Storm Sworders and 1 easy battle

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
Again, I will be using my chapter 1 and 2 disclaimer unless I add something. Then I'll be using that updated disclaimer.  
  
Joseph of the Imperial Special Forces professionally guided his zoid through the icy mountains of the Isolina Mt. Range. The ISF soldier controlled his Liger Zero Shneider unit with amazing skills rivalling those of Max and RG of the Preventers as he tailed the 2 Lts while they made a beeline for the Lazuli canyon, the exit of the gigantic icy mountains. "Hey, Joseph, where did you get such a cool zoid?" Lt. RG asked Joseph. While fighting and travelling through the remainder of the mountains, Joseph and RG became fast friends, Max on the losing end of this friendship as he lost a checkers rival. Joseph smiled, while showing off the sheer power of his "cool" zoid. His zoid jumped on one side of the cliff they were currently on, dashed to the opposite side of the cliff face and used his momentum to land in front of Max's Command Wolf. "When you enter the ISF, they give you a Liger Zero and ask you what type of customize unit you would like." RG mouthed an "Oh, I get it" and went back to trying to make his heavier Dibison catch up with the faster Command Wolf and Shneider unit. Max noticed a blinking light on his radar, a device now considered useless by technicians like Marvin, while RG and Joseph fired question after question at each other. The blip on his screen was transferred to a 3D mapping device which Max installed onto his zoid by himself. A squadron of Storm Sworders, around 5 of them, appeared on the rather expensive piece of technology he bought during his vacation. "Good to know that this piece of junk works" Max said as he remembered when they were attacked by the Red Horn and his mapper wasn't working. He assumed that it was just another rebel Zaber Fang joining the fray, and this almost caused their deaths if it weren't for Joseph and his Shneider. "Hey Joseph, RG!" The two pilots stopped their sociable chat as Max filled them in on the Storm Sworders. The 3 zoids halted in their tracks as they prepared to attack the silver flying type zoids of the rebels.  
  
Guio walked through the dimly lit hall, which led to the small garage where his zoid was kept. Personally requesting to the officer in charge that he take a private garage unlike the giant multi-zoid garages that most pilots use, he tuned his Lightning Saix in private inside the not so spacious tuning area. Clutching a weapons upgrade under his arm, he accessed the coded lock, which protects his garage from prying eyes. He removed the protective casing of the super high level weapons upgrade while he climbed on top of his zoid's dual cannons. He silently removed the lid of the cannon's control unit and delicately slotted in the precious upgrade into the powerful computer located inside. Tapping in a security code, he overwrote the previous upgrade while humming to himself. Shutting down the control unit and closing its lid, he dusted off his hands, seeing that he hasn't upgraded his weapons for a while and that the control unit gathered quite a bit of dust, and slid down his feline zoids smooth black neck and hopped into the open cockpit. "This time, I'm placing first." He said happily while he pressed an inbuilt switch inside his cockpit, which opened his personal garage's door. "Time for battle." He said as his zoid gained a burst of speed as he raced toward a match with a Command Wolf Urban, a zoid like Max's.  
  
Meanwhile, JC watched Jico work diligently on JC's Gunsniper, his hands covered with grease and sweat as he tuned the inner systems of the velociraptor type zoid, such as the generator, which he fixed to have a higher and more efficient output, the radiator, tuned to accept hotter temperatures longer, and the targetting systems of his weapons. "No wonder the kid's zoid is so fast and agile, this guy's a genius!" Jico slid out from under the Gunsniper, swiping off the sweat on his forehead. "All done, with plenty more time to check out its new stats." Jico said, signalling JC to get in the Gunsniper and check out his handiwork. JC hopped into his zoid like a small kid playing with a new toy. Waving to Jico to show his appreciation, he checked the various systems of his zoid and was thoroughly shocked at the results. "Wow! Everything's up by at least 150 percent! I'll really be able to finish off Raven this time!" In an action unlike that of the normal JC, he summoned back feelings of vengeance as he remembered his village and Jacob his buddy. JC was snapped back to reality as a pebble hit the side of his head. Shaking off his ill feelings, he yelled back down at Jico, the thrower of the stone. "I'm fine! Just got shocked at your amazing work!" Jico flashed his rabbit smile again as he looked proudly at his work. "JC and the team of Joel and DJ please proceed to the arena" The speaker blared overhead, causing JC to almost lose his balance and fall on top off Jico. Thanking Jico one more time, he rode his powered up Gunsniper towards the arena while his two opponents got on their own velociraptor type zoid, the Snipemaster, which requires two people to make it function completely.  
  
A few minutes later, the two zoids are in heated battle with their claws and jaws as the Snipemaster disabled the guns on the Gunsniper. Snapping his powerful mouth at the lighter Snipemaster, which easily dodged the attack, JC lashed his zoid's tail at the white velociraptor type zoid. DJ, controlling the movements of their zoid, expertly controlled their Snipemaster and jumped backwards, spinning the zoid to have its tail face the Gunsniper. Joel, controlling the tail based sniper rifle, which is even more powerful than the one on the Gunsniper, fired a bullet straight for the location of the blue zoid's leg, if only the Gunsniper was still there. Moving his zoid like lightning, JC launched all the remaining missiles on his launchers at the confused Snipemaster; quickly penetrating its weak armor to end the battle. "Too easy." JC said brushing of the dust from his red and black jumpsuit. On the opposite side of the giant circular stadium, Dean watched the Lightning Saix of Guio rip through his enemy inside the second division of the arena. "Looks like I'll be having two major competitors this time." He said, noting Guio's ferocious and relentless attack on the poor, stunned Command Wolf.  
  
End of chapter. 


	7. Disappearance of the Wolf, Fox attack!

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned zoids, do you think I'd spend my time writing this story instead of making lots of cash?  
  
Max's red and black Command Wolf Urban leaped over the orange body of the Shneider unit of Joseph, positioning his canine zoid on a jutting cliff side, a perfect anti-air location. Readying his zoid's gatling gun, which is identical to the one located on top of a Shadow Fox, he called down to RG and their new teammate Joseph of the ISF. "In range in, 5,4,3,2,1." The 3 zoids prepared themselves to face 5 silver Storm Sworders, flying-type zoids that pack a load of missiles and bombs, not to mention a pair of really nasty blades, which are concealed in the wings. The squadron of Storm Sworders appears above the trio of pilots, launching their payload at the most obvious target. The Command Wolf since it was placed on an elevated platform. Firing his gun behind him, Max piloted his Command Wolf away from the missiles and onto a ramp-like surface, from which he jumped into the air. "Head back to base, I'm the only guy here with a gun capable of shooting down these guys!" Max yelled at Lt. RG and Joseph, RG hesitating before he left to catch up with Joseph who had no second thoughts of leaving Max behind. Kicking off from a piece of rock, Max instantly changed his zoid's direction and zipped down the icy cliff wall, leaving the missiles to head straight for the first 2 Storm Sworders that turned around to make a second pass at the Preventers and ISF pilot, obliterating them in a giant fireball. Pieces of debri rained on Max's cockpit as his zoid weaved in and out of rocks and boulders as he dashed downwards, using all his skills to safely pilot his Command Wolf through the near vertical mountain side he was racing through. Gravity propelled him even faster as he went down the slope, simultaneously evading sporadic bursts of gunfire from the 3 remaining aerial zoids. Checking the path for the next few hundred feet, he swivelled his zoid to face his pursuers who were now tailing him downwards. Bullets damaged his zoid, further aggravating the damage that the Red Horn previously did, as he locked on to the rebel Storm Sworders. Firing his gigantic gun, he blasted 2 more of the pesky zoids out of the sky while his zoid's paws skidded on the hard mountain side, moving closer and closer to the canyon floor. Jumping off the side of the mountain slope, Max switches the stance of his Command Wolf again, praying that he would land on the icy floor with minimal damage. Apparently, his prayers weren't answered. His zoid's legs meet the ground with a resounding snap, as the joints in their systems crumble under the intense pressure of landing after going for more than 300 mph speeds. Unfortunately for the Storm Sworder that swooped over the Command Wolf, this however damaging landing provided enough balance for Max to still have above average aim and control over his zoid's guns. Turning to meet the Command Wolf head on with a few missiles, the Storm Sworder flies directly into the Command Wolf's aim. Both zoids firing their weapons at the exact same time, Max's Command Wolf fell to its already broken knees as the missiles exploded on his crippled leg while the heavily damaged Storm Sworder spun dangerously out of control overhead until it ended its life by slamming into the slope directly behind the Command Wolf. The explosion of the rebel zoid rocks Max's cockpit, slamming his forehead into the orange glass of his zoid's cockpit, knocking him out instantly as blood trickles down his unconscious shoulder.  
  
"Get out of my way!" Joseph screams angrily as he rushes to meet the Zaber Fangs in his way with 2 giant energy blades. RG fires his zoid's cannons at the approaching hordes, obliterating them instantly. Darting to and fro with his Shneider unit, Joseph pilots his living weapon through the mass of enemies, cutting down the rebels like a humongous shredder with the Shneider's blades. Goring 2 Zaber Fangs with his horns and attacking the rest of the enemies with his shooters, RG paved his own road to the exit with enemy bodies, which were trampled by the powerful hooves of his Dibison. Disposing of 2 more rebels with his mini-cannon, Joseph caught up with RG of the Preventers, only to realize what was waiting for them at the exit of the Isolina Mountains. "Hello there, RG. I see you brought a friend with you." Raven snidely remarks in the cockpit of the most powerful thing Zi has ever known since the Death Stinger and Death Saurer.The Genobreaker moves forward, threatening the 2 pilots silently. "Ah, but where's Lt. Max? I so wanted to kill him." RG grips his controls tightly, gritting his teeth in preparation for the upcoming battle. The Genobreaker gives an immense roar before it charges into the 2 zoids. "Let's finish this!" Raven shouts while his enemies brace themselves.  
  
Back at the Preventer Base, "Sir! Genobreaker sighted! It's engaging the special force pilot Joseph and Lt. RG, sir!" A technician crys in alarm, summoning the now promoted Seargent Major Mikee and Corporal Victor to the control tower. "Where is Lt. Max?" Corporal Victor asks officially, asserting his position as Corporal while Mikee takes a seat at one of the many surveillance and reconnaisance computers and begins getting visual on the battle. "Sir, we seem to have lost his position, sir." The technincian says, his fingers dancing on his keyboard as he downloads the current statistics of the 2 pilots. "Where could he be?" The hassled corporal thinks, thousands of possibilities racing through his mind. "Get me visual contact, now!" Mikee nods his head and accesses a Preventer sattelite, which uses a high-resolution telescope to get a picture of what is happening. On the screen of the control tower, the techincians, Mikee and Victor are treated to a close up overhead view of the carnage Raven is inflicting on the soldiers. Swiping the Dibison off its feet with its powerful tail, the Genobreaker fires blast after blast at the defenseless Dibison, its leg-mounted laser cannons pulverizing the thick armor of Rg's zoid. "Get visual contact with Lt. RG, check his vital signs!" Corporal Victor yells, spit flying out of his mouth. The technician replies in a distressed way. "He's unconscious, we can't contact him!" Victor hits his head in frustration. "Seargent Major Mikee, get over there in your Redler, quickly!" Saluting Corporal Victor, Mikee rushes to the hangar for his black Redler. On the screen, Joseph valiantly fights off the Genobreaker from destroying his friend. "I pray for your success, Joseph." Corporal Victor says to himself, saluting the brave soldier.  
  
"Aaaargh!" Raven says, as he barely dodges a swipe from the Shneider unit of Joseph, his Genobreaker roaring as the blade slices off a bit of his pincers. Inside the Shneider unit, Joseph courageously fends off the attacks of the Genobreaker as he defends his newly found friend. Moving from side to side to evadethe shots fired from Raven's laser cannons, his zoid's blades extended, he charges at the Genobreaker like an enraged lion. Seconds before he could've sliced Zi's most destructive force in half, Joseph misses the swift t-rex type zoid by a hairline. Raven smirks as he nearly swipes the Liger with his zoid's tail, also missing closely as the Liger jumps away, futiley firing its weak mini-cannons at the spot where the red titan was just standing a few seconds ago. "You fight almost exactly like Flyheight, even your zoid is reminiscent of the Blade Liger, Joseph." Joseph replies with a head on attack, blades ready to slice into the metal of the Genobreaker. "He may be my idol, but I'll prove to you that I'm better than him!" Joseph yells, following up his words with action as he moved his zoid away from his apparent path towards the Genobreaker and let loose with a fury of shots from his mini-cannons at the surprised Raven. His zoid's stats falling, Raven decided to finish the battle. Ramming the Shneider unit with an amazing burst of speed, he charged his final weapon, the charged particle beam and aimed it for Joseph's cockpit. His fingers' loosened their grip as Joseph prepared for the end. "Guess this is it." Joseph says, slumping in his chair as he closed his eyes in silent surrender. "Not today, Joseph!" A black Redler bombs the Genobreaker, interrupting the CPB (charged particle beam) as the high power bombshells rock the Genobreaker. As he struggles to right his zoid, Raven decides on taking a course of action he did before, retreat. "Why do you guys always have backup just when I almost win?" Raven says, piloting his injured zoid away from the other zoids, his Genobreaker's boosters reaching unbelievable speeds. "This is Seargent Major Mikee, are both of you all right?" Mikee asks the waking Preventer Lt and the hurt ISF pilot.  
  
Hundreds of miles away, at the Preventer base, "You're not going to win this match, Marvin." JC said, boasting to the Preventers' resident super mechanic and above average pilot. "I've got some new technology that's going to leave you in the dust." He continued, Marvin not even looking up from his work on his Shadow Fox. "JC, its not always the technology that decides the battle, it's a combination of the pilot's skills and the technology integrated into the zoid." Marvin said calmly in the face of the cocky pilot. JC grins. "Well then, Mr. Know-It-All, I've got both. So don't even try to fight me, 'cause you're just going to get wiped out." JC says tauntingly. Marvin slides back under his black fox-type zoid. "We'll see in." Marvin glances at his digital watch on his greasy right wrist. "4 minutes. You better hurry, your garage is a long way off from here." Marv says, chuckling quietly as JC races across one of the many group garages where they were currently in as he desperately tried to make it to his zoid before 4 minutes elapsed. Marvin slid back out from under his canine zoid, laughing at his trick. "4! More like 14 minutes! Hahahaha!"  
  
Panting as he reached his garage that he shared with Dean, Max and RG all the way across the base, JC hit his head due to his foolishness as he checked the clock. "Aaaargh! Curse you Marv!" He said shaking his fist at the ceiling and getting quite a few stares from the other pilots and technicians who were tuning their own zoids for their own battles. "Hey JC!" Dean yelled, waving his right hand as his left hand held a sandwich. Running tiredly, JC plopped down on one of the stools Dean placed beside an expandable table located near his Venomous Viper. "Fighting against Marvin today, huh?" JC grabbed a sandwich from the table and started pushing it down his throat, nodding quickly. After gulping down the last bit of sandwich, JC gives a more concrete answer. "7 more minutes before the match. Thanks for the snack!" Standing up to stop JC, who was running towards his zoid, he decided to sit down instead of telling JC. "He'll eventually find out about Max's disappearance and the appearance of the Genobreaker" Dean said as he climbed into his zoid for his own match in the arena.  
  
JC sat down in his Gunsniper, taking in all the lights and sounds as his heavily armed zoid hummed to life. Clutching his controls, he pushed the levers to their maximum capacity and his zoid ran across the oil pipes, toolboxes and used upgrades like it was the last day of the world. Stepping through the darkness of the arena entrance, JC's Gunsniper's foot kicked up dust as it walked to the designated area for all entrants. 1 on the right side, where he was waiting for the start light, and the one on the left side, where Marvin's black Shadow Fox anticipated the same signal. The red lights tick off as they draw closer and closer to the green light, which both zoid pilots waited for. "Go!" The commentator shouts, both pilots not even hearing his remark before they launch their zoids at each other, colliding with each other's war machines. Jumping backward to avoid the sharp teeth of the Gunsniper, Marvin fires the Gatling gun at the velociraptor but the upgraded speed of the Gunsniper enables it to dodge the attack. Following up with a pounce, Marvin's heavily upgraded zoid lunges at the Gunsniper, slicing off the missile launchers due to a late evasion maneuver. JC, moving considerably slower without the missile launcher based boosters, desperately tried to evade the passes the Shadow fox made to rip his zoid to shreds. Suddenly, an idea came to JC just as his zoid's sniper tail took heavy damage. The Shadow Fox jumped at the Gunsniper, hoping to slash the top portion of the zoid off. Just before Marvin's attack connected with the relatively thin armor of the Gunsniper of JC, the reptilian zoid jumped in the air slamming into the airborne canine. As the surprised Marvin skidded across the sandy floor, the injured Gunsniper rolled back onto its feet and pelted the Shadow Fox with bullets. Purposely takin out the legs of the Shadow Fox, Marvin's zoid was unable to get up and fell easy prey to the machine guns on the claws of the Gunsniper. "I surrender." Marvin says, holding his hands above his head.  
  
A few minutes later. "That was a good match, JC. You've got some brains after all." Marvin said, ruffling the shorter pilots hair. "You're not so stupid." He continued, chuckling as he walked away. "Why does everyone think I'm stupid, even." His thoughts are interrupted as the speaker blares overhead. "Attention all flying- type zoid pilots! You are ordered to go on a search and rescue mission for Lt. Max! Go to the control tower for briefing. I repeat! All." The words are drowned out as JC goes through the sentence again, the idea pounding in his mind. ".search and rescue mission for Lt. Max. " Pilots run through the hall where he's standing, racing to go to the control tower. JC just stands there, the effects of that phrase sinking in. "Max is missing." He feels like rejoicing that one of his rivals is gone, but feels an emptiness growing inside of him. "Max wouldn't have given up hope. He's still out there. For better or for worse."  
  
End of chapter  
  
Now this is my longest chapter yet! 


	8. True face of the enemy

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
5 hours after the previous chapter.. High above the Isolina Mt. Range, 2 Storm Sworders circle the approximate location of Max's Command Wolf's fall like a team of hawks scanning the ground their prey. Both Storm Sworders' wings are decorated with a ribbon insignia of differing colors, the symbol of the Republic Air Team, also known as RAT. Inside of the Storm Swoder with a green ribbon, the pilot calls back to his partner. "Hey! Let's go back and asks for replacements, our shift is up!" The pilot in the Storm Sworder with a brown symbol gives thumbs up and pilots his flying zoid back to base. Unknown to the 2 RAT pilots, their silver zoids were being watched by two pairs of eyes. Seconds after the Storm Sworder began to retreat a missile slammed into its wing, decimating the wing entirely. "I've taken damag.Aaaah!" The pilot never finishes his sentence as 2 black Redlers scream out from the shadows like phantoms and fire bullets straight through the RAT zoid. "This is Silver 51! Were being. Aaaargh!" The remaining zoid is blasted into oblivion as 2 missiles collide with its back, exploding into a gigantic fireball. Zooming through the flames like black devils, the 2 Dragon type zoids turn and head back to the rebel base. Corporal Myki of the RAT watches with frustration as he brings his fist down on his desk. Calling for his secretary with a push of a button, he asks the nervous woman to call for two of his finest pilots. "We can't spend anymore lives, call in Srgt. Ian and Srgt. Nico right away!" He says hastily, slamming down the phone on his mahogany desk. RAT policy stated that two pilots must always fly together as a team and nobody else filled this rule as snugly as the brothers, coincidentally the cousins of Lt. Max as well, Ian and Nico. Not surprisingly, the brothers' parents were both the best team of the RAT when they were in and the siblings follow their lineage well. A few minutes later, the 2 flyers appear in Myki's office, greeting their commanding officer with a traditional salute. The elder one, Ian, respectfully asks for the reason of their visit. "Srgt. Ian, Srgt. Nico, you have been assigned to the Isolina Mission." Myki replies in his commanding voice. Scratching his head, the slightly younger Nico questions the harassed officer. "Weren't Mark and Buster working on that mission?" Nico asks, referring to the now dead pilots who piloted the Storm Sworders with the brown and green ribbon insignias. Sadly shaking his head, Corporal Myki looks at the screen on his wall, the two pilots following his gaze to a freeze frame of the flaming leftovers of the Storm Sworders lying on the snowy ground. Solemnly bowing their heads for a while, the two pilots look straight in the eyes of Corporal Myki, their own filled with the fire of determination. "Your mission is to rescue a fallen Preventer." Myki stares at the pilots as he briefed them on their next assignment. "His name is Lt. Max and he pilots a Command Wolf Urban with a modified weapon." Ian flinches uncomfortably as Max's name comes up. "As in our cousin?" Nico asks, blinking repeatedly, thinking of the cheery and somewhat insane face of Max appeared in his mind. "Yes, your cousin. Now go to your zoids, I'll send you the last known location of Max." Saluting the corporal with respect, the two pilots jog towards their Storm Sworders.  
  
"Sir, we have eliminated the RAT threat along with the Preventers' own air force completely." The proud face of one of the black Redler pilots says maliciously while kneeling in respect to their leader, his mind filled with the memories of pilots screaming as their zoids go down in flames before they can even guess whom they're fighting. His partner stands up to face their captain, his arms rigidly straight as he stands at attention. "Sir, I do believe that they will send reinforcements. Shall we welcome them to our base?" He asks, a twinkle in his eye as he reached the word welcome. Smiling evilly, the mastermind behind the rebirth of the rebels, the destruction of JC's village, among a number of other towns that were burnt to the ground by Raven's Genobreaker, answers back, his voice filled with malice."No. Its about time we showed ourselves."  
  
Somewhere inside the rebel base, Lt. Max woke up inside of his Command Wolf and rubbed his forehead where he hit his cockpit during the fight with the Storm Sworders. "What hit me?" He said rather dazedly while he squinted his eyes. "Wait, I remember now!" He thought, the memory slamming into him like a Dark Horn. Reflexively bringing up his fists, he suddenly realized he was inside his zoid and in no immediate danger. Opening the back of his seat to check for his stuff, which was no longer there, he laughed at his own ingenuity. Opening the bottom of his cockpit seat, laughing as he did, he grabbed his Preventer combat suit, made of a mapper-proof, fireproof, near bulletproof, and of waterproof and watertight material, a pistol and his checkerboard, which he dusted off and tucked into his combat suit. Pulling on his combat suit and grabbing his pistol, he jumped off his Command Wolf Urban, landing on both of his feet like a frog. Zipping behind his zoid's leg to protect him from any shots, Max glanced around to check for any enemies. Seeing none, Max made his way through the garage where he was kept and opened the door, surprised at the fact that it wasn't locked. Entering a dim hallway, the Preventer Lt put on multi purpose goggles, which he found inside his sleek black combat suit. "Cripes! 5 guards! No wonder the door wasn't locked!" Looking a bit more closely at the rebels, utilizing every bit of the night-vision function in the dim light, he noticed machine guns poking out from under their arms and knives in their pockets. One of them was smoking a cigarette and was beginning to throw it in Max's direction, which, unfortunately, was bad news because Max had a very bad allergy to smoke. "Whoo boy." Sneezing with enough force to blow Preventer HQ into the sky, Max promptly caught the attention of the five guards who instinctively raised their rifles. Shaking his head in pity for the guards, Max raised his hands in a fighting stance, getting bursts of laughter from the rebels, which gave Max ample time to begin pummeling them. Slamming his fist into the stomach of the nearest guard, Max spun under the now limp rebel and delivered a sharp jumping uppercut to the next guard, sending him across the room like a rag doll. Before his feet even touched the cold steel floor, the amazingly fit Preventer had delivered a round house kick to the face of another guard, using the momentum of his kick to jump off the back of the guard he just stunned with his high flying fighting and land right in front of another. The unlucky rebel received 2 quick jabs in the face and 1 right in the gut. Ducking to avoid a stab thrown by a foolish guard, he moved upward, slamming his elbow into his attacker and finishing him off with a punch, which broke his nose. "Anymore?" Max asked, rubbing his palms together like a boy waiting for dessert.  
  
The 2 Storm Sworders of Ian and Nico zoomed across the mountains of Isolina, searching the ground for any signs of Max's Command Wolf. One hand controlling his zoid, the other busy manipulating the mapper he bought from a guy during their vacation with family in hopes of finding their cousin. The onboard computer scanned through the various 3D maps of the surroundings as Ian piloted his Storm Sworder through white knuckle curves and tight caves that made up the mountain range. Absentmindedly tilting his zoid to avoid sure death by means of introducing a Storm Sworder to a rock wall, Ian focused his eyes on the mapper until it gave a triumphant click. A 3D hologram of a mountain with one hell of a steep slope appeared, debris of zoids scattered around its base. Contacting Nico with a press of a button, Ian simultaneously swooped down to the real steep sloped mountain, his zoid sweeping off snow from some of the tallest mountains in all of planet Zi as he made his way to the apparent location where Max's zoid fell. "Hey bro, look at this." Nico's Storm Sworder hovered above a trail, treads by the look of it, meaning the Command Wolf was towed away by a Gustav recently. Ian clapped inside his cockpit, praising Nico's sharp detective skills. Nico went on with his observations as the Storm Sworder of Ian, its black ribbon insignia blurry as his zoid zoomed toward the Storm Sworder of his brother and RAT partner. The red ribbon insignia of Nico's zoid stood out as he hovered over the clues, which might lead them to their Preventer cousin. Ian nodded his head after Nico finished pointing out the only possible location they could have brought Max and his zoid to and begins to head toward the base of the rebels, their movements tracked by the rebels' advanced defense systems.  
  
Back at the Preventer base, mechanics, pilots, technicians and even simple janitors rejoiced when a message patched through by the RAT announced that they have sufficient proof to show that their fellow Preventer was alive and that they knew his likeliest location. All the Preventers celebrated, including Max's friends, RG, Joseph, who was now inducted into the Preventers, Dean, Guio, Marvin and Jico. Except for one other who found no consolation in the news, JC. Hating Max and his jokes about him, hating Max for always acting superior, hating Max for everything bad that happened to him, JC sat in a dark office, creating battle strategies to defeat Guio and his technologically superior Lightning Saix. Finally giving in to his suppresed anger, JC snapped his pencil, put on a jacket and exited the Preventer base. Walking quickly through the rain, JC jogged through the gloomy Imperial Capital, forcing his way through the vast population of the city. He made his way to a bar and pushed open the door, keeping his hood down to avoid recognition by anyone he might know, he sat down at one of the stools beside the counter and ordered a drink. Sure enough, Dean and Marvin were there, Dean high fiving the other Preventers boisterously, apparently having a bit too much drink, while Marvin quietly sipped a coffee, reading an extremely thick book with his other hand. Gritting his teeth as his fellow Preventers talked about Max and exchanged their own stories, JC drank his drink quietly; unaware that Marvin was peering over his book and staring at JC's hand trembling with held back emotions. Tapping Dean on his shoulder, Marvin led the woozy Preventer out the bar, occasionally looking back at the hooded figure. After a while, one particularly drunk Preventer proposed a toast to Max, forcing JC to slam his glass on the counter and storm out of the bar angrily. "After I kill Raven, Max is next." He said walking through the dense crowd as raindrops fell on his head. Max stealthily sneaked across an elevated platform, crawling to avoid visual contact with any of the rebels intently listening to their leader, the mastermind's face hidden in the shadows. Activating a recorder inbuilt in his combat suit, Max took down everything the deranged psychopath said. "My good followers," The mysterious leader declared, his voice somehow familiar in Max's head. "We are to be the ones to lead Zi to true peace! We will destroy the accursed Republic and Empire, bringing down all wars as we know it!" Max's jaw dropped promptly as he heard the lunatic's message. "We ." The concealed leader of the rebellion picked up a radio from his pocket and nodded as he listened to the voice on the other end. Continuing his preaching of destruction and chaos, the secretive leader captured the attention of even Max . Ending his speech, the mastermind behind everything suddenly pointed to Lt. Max, all the rebels drawing their guns and training it at Max's head. "Oh, and we need to get rid of those pesky Preventers." Standing and raising his hands in surrender, Max shot a question at the deranged rebel leader. "Who are you, and where did you get the money to fund this operation?" Max shouted, so that he could be heard from his location. Stepping out from the blanket of darkness that he was hiding in previously, the now revealed leader of the rebels answered back. "Does this answer your question, Lt. Max?" Max blinked as he stared back at the face of Van Flyheight, hero of all Zi, destroyer of the Death Saurer and leader of a rebel army that will crush the Republic and the Empire.  
  
End of chapter  
  
Weird ending, isn't it?  
  
I have now explained the reason why JC hates Max so much so don't criticize me about that part. 


	9. The beginning of it all

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
Thanks to HonorableDisgrace and Aqua Rhapsody for reviewing me!  
Sitting cross-legged on the damp floor, Max folded his arms as he listened to Van Flyheight rant on and on and on about war, murder and most importantly, why he funded and led the rebels. Unknown to the deranged man, Lt. Max was taping everything in a nano recorder inbuilt into his sleek combat suit. A psychotic fire lighting his eyes as he talked, the pilot of the Blade Liger and leader of the Guardian Force talked to his prisoner, relating his sad past and present. "I joined the rebels because of Fiona. She died because of war and fighting, because of soldiers like me." The 29- year-old man said to the four year younger Preventer, tears welling in his eyes while Max recalled the fact that the Fiona girl was an ancient zoidian. "We loved each other, we were this close to getting married." He continued while Max couldn't help but feel sorry for the madman. Shaking his head, Van Flyheight looked up at Max and began speaking in his insane voice again. "Oh well, I should prepare for your execution now. See you at the ceremony!" The rebel leader said to the Preventer, waving almost happily at the dead man walking while he stood up and signalled two guards to look after their prisoner as he walked toward the outdoor execution site. Breathing a sigh of relief, Max reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of capsules which the rebels let him keep because Max explained it was medicine. Grabbing his glass of water and popping open two differently colored capsules, Max poured the granular contents of the capsules into his drink. Smiling as he worked, the relatively smart Preventer positioned his glass, the water now a sickly green, beside the connected chairs where the now sleeping guards where. Popping another capsule open while moving toward the farthest part of the cell from the steel bars, Max threw the pill into the mouth of the glass, shielding his eyes as the mixture exploded. The rebels were thrown across the room, their state from comfortably resting to swift unconciousness. Grabbing the keys of the guard who was knocked out and lay near his small cell, Max opened the cell's door and cautiously walked through the halls of Van Flyheight's high tech facility.  
  
High above the facility, 2 RAT pilots stood in the cold wind beside their silver Storm Sworders as they surveyed the scene below them. Ian, the elder of the 2 sibling pilots, magnified the view of his binoculars as he watched the rebels prepare for an outdoor ceremony of sorts. "Looks like an execution. Probably for Max." Ian said, beating his sharp-eyed brother to the punch. Nico nodded as he also looked below them and began thinking of how Max, their younger cousin was doing. Further magnifying his binocular's scope, Ian saw a familiar face directing the crowd and gave a gasp as he realized who it was. Tapping his brother's shoulder and directing his vision towards the person he saw, Ian nodded as he brother gaped at the person and stared at his older sibling worriedly. "Yep, that's the Aerial Devils' insignia." Ian said, affirming their worst nightmare. The Aerial Devils were 5 ace pilots of the rebels 4 years ago, infamous for never having lost even one battle. The original 5 were decimated when Imperial and Republican troops, along with a few Preventers and GF, fought the lethal 5, killing 4 of the black Redler pilots. Their leader, Enzo, escaped and wasn't seen for 4 long years but here was the world's most powerful dogfighter, standing in the cold climate of the mountains and directing a new breed of rebels. Beside him was another pilot, on his jacket the insignia that scared the living daylights out of most flyers, apparently the new addition to the Aerial Devils. After a few minutes of contemplation on the current situation, Nico spoke up in an official voice. "I've ID'd the other guy and his name is Martin. He was an ex-pilot for the GF and has an excellent dogfighting record." Ian shook his head sadly. "Looks like this won't be so easy after all. He said while climbing into the cockpit of his Storm Sworder, its paint dully reflecting the face of Nico as he too climbed into his own zoid.  
  
Another rainy day in the Preventer base and JC was getting ready for his battle with the Lightning Saix pilot Guio. Jico was out in the Imperial Capital and was buying books, which left the still angry JC to work on his own. Grumbling about how he hated Max and all his stupid friends, JC slammed his fist into a greasy ladder, toppling over a can of black paint. Punching the floor over and over again in his frustration, the skilled but emotional pilot noticed the raven-black paint tainting the sky blue color of his Gunsniper and suddenly got inspired. "I'll show them my true emotions! I'll show all of them their stupidity in becoming friends with that liar!" Grabbing the canister, JC set about painting his zoid a deep shade of black, lightning illuminating the now raven colored velociraptor every now and then. Working with renewed fervor, ideas on how to kill his archrival and Raven swirled through his mind as he modified his Gunsniper until it became even more deadly than the Genobreaker itself. Sitting down and staring at his destructive force, JC proudly looked at his creation. Its black paint, giving the now super sharp claws a dim glow, reflected the new technology he installed into his zoid. Missiles that launched mini spikes like the ones on the Death Saurer, machine guns that fired shells that gave off electricity when they connected with a zoid, and his favorite, an extendable cord that came snaking out of his zoid's wrists as flexibly as Dean's Venomous Viper. "Time to teach Guio a lesson he and his zoid will never forget."  
  
Max wiped the sweat off his forehead as he desperately tried to pick the lock on the gate, which separated his zoid from freedom and, most likely, an angry Blade Liger and dozens of Zaber Fangs chasing him as he escaped. "Got it!" He said as he pumped the stale air in the rebels' dark garage. Running for his zoid, the cunning Preventer was blocked by 2 more rebels. "You asked for it." Max said as a punch flew at his face, nearly breaking his nose as he dodged it skillfully. 20 seconds later, Max continued on his path toward his Command Wolf Urban, stepping over the limp guards. A few seconds later, the Command Wolf bounded across the snow while evading bursts of fire from the quick Zaber Fangs hunting the Preventer down. Turning his zoid to face the cannons of the rebel zoids, Max eliminated the Zabers with a quick strafe of his gatling gun. Stretching his arms as he stared at the carnage, Max smiled happily. "Havn't done that in a while." Continuing his trek across the mountains to reach his team's base, the canine zoid was stopped in its tracks by none other than the world's greatest pilot and his Blade Liger. Insanely smiling at the shaken Preventer, his evolved zoid ready to rip away the parts of Max's Command Wolf, Van Flyheight started to converse with the opposing pilot. "Why did you have to leave during the execution? Oh well, might as well end it in the battlefield." The Blade Liger rushes at the Command Wolf, firing the guns on its blades while sprinting across the icy terrain. Sidestepping the attacks, Max's wolf lunges at the lion type zoid, his enemy countering by swatting away the Command Wolf. Skidding on the floor, his zoid heavily damaged after the swipe slowly rising on its crushed legs, Max gritted his teeth as gunfire exploded onto his zoid's armor, further ravaging the Command Wolf. Tightening his grip on his controls, Max rolled away from a swipe by the Blade Liger, only to fall prey to more armor crushing shots from Flyheight's blade based guns. Max whacked his head and uttered a silent prayer as his zoid's systems read "FREEZE", meaning a total loss of control and movement for his zoid. Grinning as he opened up his zoid's yellow blades, which gave the Blade Liger its name in the first place, and slowly moved toward the frozen Command Wolf. "Time to die, Lt. Max!" Miraculously for Max, Van's lethal attack was cut short when missiles slammed into the Blade Liger's side, toppling the powerful zoid. Saluting his cousin, Ian's zoid lands in front of the Command Wolf, closing its wings to provide some protection to the frozen Preventer zoid while his brother fought as fiercely as an eagle with the now shielded Blade Liger. Hopping off his Storm Sworder, Ian quickly planted a plastic explosive on the side of Max's Command Wolf and detonated the relatively weak bomb, jolting the canine zoid back to normal functions. Giving thumbs up to his RAT cousins, Max pushed his zoid's acceleration to the limit and ran across the icy mountain fields. Nodding to his brother as soon as he got into the Storm Sworder with a black insignia and the two Storm Sworders jetted off, dropping a bomb on the rock wall, forming an impenetrable barrier made out of fallen rock and stone, thus insuring relief from the nasty itch called the Blade Liger.  
  
A few hours later, Max's Command Wolf was undergoing heavy repair while its master was taking a nice warm shower after a day of captivity. Walking out of his room with slouched shoulders, Max was led into a garage filled with drink and food as the Preventers celebrated their comrade's return like teenagers with an excess of things and time. Standing outside the door leading to the welcome back celebration, Guio leaned on the wall while drinking punch from an irritatingly bright colored cup. Looking inside, his head peering into the door, the Lightning Saix pilot noticed that, aside from a now sleeping Max amidst all the merry making, JC was just standing in a corner, mumbling incoherent things while glaring at Max. Shrugging, Guio walked away from the noisy party and headed for his private garage where his pride and joy was. "Hello there, Lightning Saix old buddy. Looks like we have a battle today. Get ready."Guio talked to his black zoid, sitting with his back resting on the smooth armor of his Lightning Saix.  
  
Sitting with Dean on the uppermost part of the arena, Max anxiously anticipated the start of the battle between Guio and JC. Dean too appeared to be excited, clutching a pencil and a notepad, which seemed to contain notes on battle strategies. Below the two spectators, the black Lightning Saix waited as its pilot tapped the controls of his zoid while looking out for JC. "C'mon!" Stepping out of dark depths of the arena entrance was possibly the scariest thing Guio ever saw in his whole life. "What the bloody hell is that? Is that supposed to be a Gunsniper?" The green light flashed suddenly, Guio's zoid driven to the ground by the black blur that was JC's Gunsniper. Bouncing back and firing his cannons at the already moving Gunsniper, Guio was again rammed by the improved zoid. Gritting his teeth, Guio pushes his zoid to its full capacity, dodging the next pounce by the black Gunsniper. Jumping at the stunned velociraptor zoid like its name, lightning, the Saix bit the missile launchers of the Gunsniper, ripping away the weaponry with its fangs. Receiving a jolt of electricity as his zoid took a hit; JC trained his modified guns on the moving figure of the Lightning Saix. The shells exploded and zapped the Lightning Saix until sparks flew from his zoid. Laughing at the futility of Guio's desperate attempts to escape his Gunsniper's unbelievable weaponry, JC was thrown about in his cockpit as the Lightning Saix scratched away one machine gun and one arm with its sharp claws. Flashing his own sharpened claws at the black zoid, JC growled in frustration as Guio's zoid dodged his swipes. "It isn't just the zoid! Its about the skills!" Guio yelled to JC, rolling his zoid in the dirt to evade a burst of fire and retaliated with his cannons, placing additional hurt on the Gunsniper. Snaking out the last cable out from his zoid's remaining wrist, he pulled back the flexible rope around the front legs of the Lightning Saix and used this vulnerability to destroy the cannons on its back. Dragging the feline zoid on the ground like a little girl playing with a doll, the Gunsniper opened its even more lethal missile launcher and fired the projectiles straight above the Lightning Saix. Colliding in midair, 24 missiles exploded into a tremendous rain of black spikes, each of the deadly weapons also releasing a zoid-incapacitating jolt of electricity as they punctured a zoid. Seconds before the spikes impaled the Lightning Saix, Guio showed off with a move that required great skills. Rolling his zoid into the sand, he lifted the raven-black gunsniper off its feet and threw the velociraptor type zoid right in the path of the needles. The black stakes drove through the last remaining arm of the Gunsniper, electrocuting itself and giving JC a taste of his own medicine as his body writhed in pain and suffering while his zoid roared in agony. Panting after the attack, JC slapped the Lightning Saix, tearing off the cable, with his tail that concealed a sniper, sending the poor black feline zoid skidding across the arena, its sleek body designed for speed bouncing as it hit uneven surfaces. Struggling to get his zoid back on its feet, Guio looked on as JC approached, switching his zoid's stance for better sniping aim. The barrel of the powerful gun was point blank with the neck of Guio's zoid and people in the crowd were shouting at him to give up but Guio was not only proud enough to not surrender, he thought clearly even in the face of imminent defeat. Smiling as he locked on to the Lightning Saix's open neck, JC slowly brought his finger to the trigger, bringing an unusual silence, which covered the crowd. Suddenly, the Lightning Saix's foot slammed into the Gunsniper's own damaged leg, breaking JC's aim and thus missing the surefire shot, centimeters away from victory. Pouncing at the toppled gunsniper in blind rage, a move very uncharacteristic of Guio, he scratched away the leg of the fallen black zoid and proceeded to slam his Lightning Saix's paw into the cockpit until, unfortunately for Guio, his zoid fell on the floor in a command freeze, signalling automatic victory for JC, his arms covering his face as he was prepared for the black zoid's claw to come tearing through his cockpit. "JC wins!" The commentator announced, wiping the sweat off his forehead as the edge-of-your-seat match came to a very undramatic ending.  
  
Shaking his head sadly as he watched his buddy Guio lost, Max whacked the back of Dean's head as he furiously took down notes, Max swearing that he saw smoke come out of the pen as Dean wrote down the new weaponry of the black Gunsniper. "Don't you pity Guio? He almost won?" Max reprimanded Dean for not even showing the least sign of compassion as he rubbed his head where Max hit him. Shaking his head happily, Dean replied with a smile. "No way! Guio would have way beat me in the finals! This is good for me!" Max shook his head as Dean danced in euphoric happiness.  
  
"Sir! We have, hundreds of zoids heading straight for the capital of the Empire!" A panicked technician yelled at Seargent Mikee, promptly sending the officer to the computer monitor. "Sir! The Republic is under attack! The rebels have a naval fleet! Air type zoids are attacking the Empire!" techies shouted, pointing to various close ups of destruction and chaos. Pounding his fist on the table, Mikee gave orders to hold the finals in the morning and get all available personnel ready for war. "By the looks of what is happening to the Republic and Imperial armies, us Preventers are fighting this war alone."  
  
End of chapter  
  
Please pray for the soul of the father of my friend Vico. 


	10. The Finals: Racer

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
Disclaimer: You know I don't own zoids.  
  
Is there anybody out there who would like to read and review my story aside from Aqua Rhapsody? (Thanks again for you review!)  
  
Note: The first segment is during the rebel invasion and a few minutes before Mikee discovered the attack.  
  
The 2 RAT cousins of Max piloted their Storm Sworders above the ruins of the once glorious city of the Empire, passing over the Preventer base located at the fringe of the capital. Nico launched a few missiles at a couple of rebel Helcats, obliterating them entirely as their debris scattered on the cracked road. Ian shook his head sadly as he stared down at the people running away, some tripping and becoming asphalt as the rebel zoids stepped down on them. Shooting a few zoids into useless pieces of scrap with his machine guns, he was thanked by a few scared civilians, again running away after a Zaber Fang appears. Nico sighs and talks to his elder sibling. "Will this ever end?" He complains, firing a missile at the feline zoid, hovering over the burning metal for a while as he saw more zoids approach his red insignia Storm Sworder. Diving down, his zoid's wings glinting as the fire reflected off it, Ian released his zoid's blades just as he passed Nico's Storm Sworder and sliced through the rebels, his Storm Sworder's silver underside blowing away dust and debris as it barely skimmed the destroyed road of the falling Imperial Capital. Pulling his zoid out of the dive, Ian's Storm Sworder was shaken as projectiles coming from a Gunsniper, decorated with red paint, whizzed past it. Flying past his sibling, Nico clicked the trigger of his zoid's powerful guns, not letting up his rain of steel as the rebel Gunsniper started falling apart, shreds of its armor littering the ground. "This is Kevin and Andrew, we'll take your place temporarily. Refeul and get more ammunition at Flying Eagle." 2 RAT Storm Sworders finished off the red velociraptor zoid, their pilots inside signalling their comrades to head to base Flying Eagle, a squadron of Whale Kings that was built for the RAT as a gift from the Empire and back up in case the RAT base was destroyed. The 2 pilots nodded and flew their zoids over the Preventer base, brimming with people laying anti-zoid defenses since the portion of the Imperial Capital in which they are located was not yet overrun with the rebel scum, and headed for the gigantic zoids called Whale Kings that served as the RAT's temporary base of operations. Behind the 2, their partners, now aided by the few remaining Imperial zoids, valiantly fought off endless rebel army, their yellow and blue insignias glowing proudly in the heat of the war. The Imperial Capital grew smaller and smaller to the eyes of the 2 ace pilot brothers as they closed in on the group of 5 magenta Whale Kings, the top of the immense whale type zoids' noses covered with a translucent green material. One of the vast zoids opened its gaping jaw, lined with white teeth, and the 2 RAT pilots flew into Whale King/ RAT base. Signalling a few mechanics to refeul his zoid while hopping off his majestic silver Storm Sworder, Ian ran up to his younger brother and discussed the current situation. "Taking us by surprise, the rebels managed to eliminate most of the Republic and Imperial armies, thus insuring the fact that they will have larger numbers than us." Nico commented, his voice with an air of resignation. Ian hit his brother lightly on the shoulder, assuring him that they will triumph in the end. "Fortunately, we still have the Preventer army and the Guardian For." Ian said, interrupted by a techinician who came running through the metal floor that was the inside of the Whale King. "The Guardian Force base was sabotaged and blown up! We've lost around 200 men and approximately another 100 are in critical condition!" Hitting his head, Ian continued sadly. ". and only the Preventers since the Guardian Force was to proud to believe the words of our cousin warning them of a bomb." Nico sadly shook his head and continued with his path towards his bunk in the Whale King.  
  
Preventers scurried around like rats as they set up various defenses and checked for explosives following the news of the destruction of the Guardian Force base. Each Preventer, clothed in either their red or yellow and black uniforms, were rushing around, fixing something or installing something that needed fixing, which showed the stupidity of the Empire and Republic for granting a larger budget for the Guardian Force and Van Flyheight. Dean ran by Marvin in his grease covered suit, who apparently was helping with the installation of anti-zoid missiles, and headed straight for his Venomous Viper, Racer and knocked down Joseph, who was carrying components for radar syatems, just before tripping Jico, this time cradling zoid upgrades in his arms. A rebel cursed him for his clumsiness as he made a mad dash for the multi-zoid garage in which his snake type zoid was located, frantically hoped in his Racer and scooted off for his battle with the deadly black Gunsniper of JC.  
  
Meanwhile, JC was also desperately trying to reach his zoid, knocking down Guio who was holding fuel for missiles as he ran like a psycho across the narrow hall, purposely tripping his rival Max, watching the guns he was bringing out off the armory fall and clang on the metal floor. Panting heavily as he finally jumped into his black zoid, JC rested for a moment as he watched his lethal zoid rev up, scaring away a poor mechanic who was resting on the Gunsniper's foot. His zoid almost flattened the terrified mechanic who was huddled on the floor as he zipped through the open gate and out into the dusty dark arena entrance, to be greeted with silence as noone but the referee was there, everyone to busy to be watching this once- in-a-lifetime battle.  
  
The two pilots exchanged verbal blows before the actual match had commenced, each one trying to sting the other more with barbed words. "Good thing nobody's watching you. You don't want to be embarassed in front of everyone when you lose, right?" JC said, flinging that particularly painful insult at Dean. "Shouldn't I, the defending champion, be the one to be saying that? After all, you won that last battle with Guio by fluke." Dean retaliated as the light flashed green, sending the enraged JC to hurl his Gunsniper straight at the Venomous Viper. Dodging the dash with a quick motion of his zoid's elongated body, Dean smiled as the black zoid made futile pass after futile pass at his untouchable Racer. Diving into the ground to avoid JC's modified bullets, Racer reappeared behind the Gunsniper, firing its machine guns at the elusive Gunsniper that was already in the air, evading his shots like an acrobatic lizard. Flattening his zoid to the ground for extra speed, Dean grips his zoid's controls tightly as he weaves his zoid in and out, evading the falling spikes and machine gun fire while heading straight for the Gunsniper. Seconds before the Venomous Viper could even sink its sharp fangs into the leg of the Gunsniper, JC again somersaults his zoid in the air, this time with a twist. Firing out the snake-like cable from his zoid's wrists, he latches onto the Viper and swings it across the arena, using the momentum from this motion to land squarely on his Gunsniper's feet.But Dean has his own tricks and digs his Racer's tail in the sand, using inertia to sling his snake- type zoid at the leg of the Gunsniper, fangs ready to rip steel. JC's Gunsniper roars as the Venomous Viper digs two holes into its armor, flinging away the snake with its tail as it regained composure. The Venomous Viper skidded across the sand like a pice of scrap, slamming into the wall with a dull thud. Not taking any chances with his zoid's sniper, JC unleashed a barrage of his special missiles into the air, directed for the apparently immobile enemy zoid. Lashing out his Racer's tail, Dean fired his own tail-tip located missiles just as the spike launching projectiles were gaining altitude over the Gunsniper, prematurely detonating JC's weapons and sending the spikes to fall downwards, aimed straight for the stunned Gunsniper. Using the black needles as a distraction, Dean launched his Venomous Viper straight at the zoid of JC, preoccupied with dodging his own tools of mass destruction. JC was relieved as the last spike had fallen but shocked as machine gun fire rattled his zoid's thin armor. Lashing his own tail out at the Venomous Viper of Dean, which promptly ducked, he stopped in mid swipe and turned in the opposite direction, leaving the neck of Dean's Racer open to his claws. Dean let out a scream of agony as a jolt was sent through his zoid while JC's black Gunsniper simultaneously fired its special bullets and dug his claws into his Venomous Viper. Lifting the damaged Viper, JC tossed the smoking zoid away and activated his sniper rifle as the zoid of Dean lay injured a few meters away. Interrupting his aim, JC looked up with Dean as they saw rebel Terraces fire at their base, the roof of the Preventers' HQ ringing with gunfire. Dean gripped his controls with renewed strength as he snaked his zoid's body around the Gunsniper and pulled, sending the Gunsniper to its knees. "Time to finish this." Dean hissed, peppering the constricted Gunsniper with his guns. With a great amount of effort, JC finally got his zoid to break free of the vise-like grip of the Venomous Viper and fired a few rounds of his guns, only to discover a lack of ammunition. Jumping at the coiled snake-type zoid like a cat, JC's Gunsniper pointed its sharp foot claws down on the Racer of Dean. Dean smiled and showed his true skills as a zoid duelist. "Snake Twister!!!" His zoid shot upward, its body shaped like a spring as it knocked down the flying Gunsniper with the unbelievable momentum he had gotten. At long last, the Gunsniper fell down and didn't rise as Dean triumphed over the far more advanced weaponry of JC with his pure talent.  
  
A few minutes later, JC and Dean were riding their zoid's alongside each other as they ran as one with the mass of Preventers who were riding out into war with the giant rebel army. Joseph and RG led the way, clearing a path for the rest of the rebels while Max in his Command Wolf trailed the faster Shadow Fox and Lightning Saix of Marvin and Guio, respectively. Jico and his red Helcat broke off from the main group as he and a few others headed for the rebel base in the mountains. The gigantic procession was joined by hundreds of Storm Sworders followed by the Whale Kings of the RAT as they drew sharp contrails in the air on their path to the Imperial Capital. And to the pilots who paid extra attention, Hammerheads, shark- type zoids that could fly and swim, were peaking out of the waters near the coastline they were travelling through. Seconds later, an army of white Command Wolves appeared, followed by a few Iron Kongs and dozens of Revraptors. Joseph looked behind him and grinned as he realized that the Republic and the Empire were right behind them and were supporting their efforts through and through. "Look out, Flyheight. Were coming for you!" Suddenly, a charged particle beam rips through several zoids, obliterating them instantly. JC's hands raced into action as he piloted his Gunsniper away from the group and charged straight at one of his worst enemies as Raven's red Genobreaker stepped out from behind a rock jutting out off the desert. Just before his zoid was in the range of the laser cannons of the zoid that destroyed JC's home, the Liger of Joseph, blocking his path to revenge and suicide, stopped his Gunsniper in its tracks with a well-aimed shot in front of its legs. Joseph growled at the younger and more irrational pilot. "Don't even think about it. We're letting the Helic Republic army get rid of him." Joseph glared at the skilled but less experienced zoid pilot, his eyes drilling into JC. JC scowled angrily and piloted his zoid back into formation, shooting spiteful glances at the ex-ISF pilot while Joseph's Shneider watched him. The Command Wolves of the Republic ran ahead of the living mass of zoids and were picked off as they closed in on the Genobreaker, some of them tripping their zoids on the smoking remainders of their comrades as they headed for their target. The rest of the zoids ran, flew and swam towards the smoking capital of the Guylos Empire like a giant carpet of zoids.  
  
Van Flyheight sat comfortably in his Blade Liger, wacthing his minions destroy the Imperial Capital and any foolish zoid that came within their path, occasionally frying the armor of a zoid with his zoid's powerful machine guns. Breathing slowly, Van Flyheight looked up toward the heavens, currently choking on the smoke that was coming from the burned up remains of the Imperial Capital. He uttered a quick prayer and started talking to the sky. "Fiona, look at me destroy war forever. Isn't wonderful! All for you!" The psychopatic leader of the rebels laughed and cryed at the same time, tears rolling down his cheek as he remembered the one he loved.  
  
End of chapter.  
  
(If you think I should have angst or drama as another category, tell me how to 'cuz I already have suspense as a secondary category and I don't want to change that.) 


	11. Clear vision

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
Pyroteknix  
  
Disclaimer: What did I write in my last chapter again? Hmm.  
  
Joseph's Liger sliced through the 4 rebel Zaber Fangs that stood in his way as Marvin and Max's combined gunfire eliminated an idiotic rebel who just happened to try and attack RG who was bombarding a few Red Horns with his Dibison. Dean's Racer slithered behind two Zabers, crushing their armor with a heavy blow from its whip-like body. As the Zaber Fangs fell to the cracked ground, JC was proficiently killing hordes of enemies with his unbelievable weaponry, spikes driving through rebels and shocking their fragile little bodies. RG, his zoid goring a rebel Gunsniper with its horns, shouted at his teammates as they fought off a never-ending battle, friend and foe strewn on the ruined roads of the once mighty Empire. "They just keep coming!" RG commented, firing away with his zoid's powerful cannons. JC, snapping a zoid's neck with his black Gunsniper's teeth, scowled as more rebels appeared from behind a crumbling building and replied in a shrill sarcastic voice. "Yeah! This is so easy." Max's Command Wolf leaped over Marvin's Shadow Fox, currently driving bullets into the thick armor of a rebel Dark Horn, and slashed open the throat of another Command Wolf, only this wolf was allied with the enemy. While the rebel wolf was falling, Dean's Racer dived under ground and leaped back out straight at an enemy Iron Kong while Joseph moved behind Dean's prey and launched his orange Liger at a Shield Liger. As Joseph removed his zoid's fangs from the other Liger, he was rocked about inside his cockpit as missiles coming from a red Gunsniper slammed into his zoid. Marvin quickly ran to protect the fallen Joseph but his zoid fell to the ground as artillery slammed into his Shadow Fox, creating dust clouds as he fell. Dean's zoid was suddenly grabbed by an Iron Kong and was tossed at Max like a toy, sending both Preventers to their knees. RG destroyed the rebel Kong easily but was stunned when ammunition from a rebel Zaber Fang hit his zoid's armor and dropped to the ground like a rock. JC watched his teammates fall to the destroyed road and retaliated with unbelievable force, destroying 5 zoids at a time with his electric spikes and dragged another rebel with his cable and laughed as the rebel tripped up his own comrades with his zoid. But quantity overpowered quality and eventually JC met the same ground that his Preventer brothers fell on. Bowing his head as he expected ammo to rip through his damaged zoid, JC released his sweaty hands from his zoid's controls. Fortunately, Ian and Nico's Storm Sworders ran a bombing pass and eliminated several of the rebels in a firestorm of explosives. Running a second pass in perfect sync, the two brothers destroyed some more rebels with their powerful bombs. "Hey! Ian, Nico, thanks for saving me in Isolina!" Max said to his cousins, establishing communication. Only Ian grinned down, as his brother was too busy slicing through the metal of a Redler. "You owe us big time!" Ian replied, signalling the 7 tired pilots to follow them out of the city. Obediently following, a Gunsniper, a Command Wolf, an Shneider unit, a Dibison, a Venomous Viper and a Shadow Fox sped after the red and black insignias as they raced through the burning Capital of the Empire. Minutes later, Dean gave a whoop of delight and relief as they clearedthe capital and were in visual range of base Flying Eagle, which landed on the outskirts of the capital.  
  
At the original base of the rebels, Jico's Helcat fired shell after shell at the greatly reduced troops of Van Flyheight's army and evaded their shells when they retaliated with his zoid's upgraded mobility, a sign of his great mechanical skills. Dashing to and fro, Jico evaded the blasts coming from the Cannon Tortoises of the rebels and cut through the long- range bombardment units, his black and red Helcat's claws dicing the opposition efficiently. Swivelling his zoid's guns, Jico detonated missiles meant for him before they reached 10 meters to his Helcat. Then just as suddenly as it started, the rebels retreated back into their base and disappeared from the battlefield like a pack of scared chickens. Following their prey, Jico and the rest of the Preventers that went with him entered the all but closed facility of the rebels, not even receiving the least bit of resistance. "Jico, where do you think they went?" A fellow rebel asked Jico, the quiet pilot replying with a shake of his head as he put on his combat suit and jumped off his Helcat's cockpit. The rest of the Preventers did the same and soon they were catiously walking in the halls of the dark rebel base, each soldier clutching a gun nervously. "Looks like Max's checkerboard. Better pick it up," Jico said, his eyes spotting a board lying idly on the cold steel floor. As Jico bent down to pick up the boardgame, his eyes turned to slits as he saw movement in the dimly lit adjacent hall. Without warning, shots were fired at the Preventers, bullets sending sparks as they ricocheted off the walls of the high-tech rebel facility. Both Preventers and rebels alike fell to the floor as the Preventers returned fire, their blood staining the metallic floor red. Switching a grenade open, Jico tossed the special bomb, designed to spread a substance that Marvin created, right at the rebels. A pearly liquid covered the rebels, instantly solidifying into a material not unlike ice. Delivering quick incapacitating shots to the immobile heads of the rebels, Jico stood still and watched the ice-like material coating the rebels turn scarlet as their blood tainted the now solid mixture from the inside. Shaking his head, Jico ran to catch up with his even more cautious comrades, minus the dead they had to leave behind. As they silently searched the base, Jico's foot gave a slight clang as it stepped on a differently colored portion of the floor, the noise eerily echoing in the soundless halls. Puzzled, Jico rapped the floor with his knuckles while his ear was on the strangely painted segment and realized that the thing he was he standing on was hollow and probably concealed a hidden room. He signalled for two Preventers help him pry open the panel, proving his theory right as they looked down at a ladder. "Lets go!" Jico called to his teammates, signalling them with a wave of his hands.  
  
Max listened intently to the discussion he and his partners were taking part in as representatives of the Preventers. Joseph and RG were explaining the situation and showing a map Marvin made, which revealed the easiest path to reach Flyheight and save the Emperor who previously appeared on screen with Van, the psychopatic rebel leader showing off his hostage. Guio was sipping his iced tea, nodding every so often as he followed the discussion. Dean and JC were shooting venomous glances at each other due to a comment that Dean made saying that JC wasn't such a good pilot and made his way here courtesy of dumb luck. Ian, representing his team of the RAT, stood up and protested the proposed plan of the Empire. "You're going to sacrifice hundreds of men to save your young Emperor!?! That's an outrage!" Nico stood up as well and cursed the Imperial representative, only to make more Imperials stand up and argue with him. Soon, all the people currently in the discussion started arguing, with the exception of Marvin, looking over the top of his thick book while he comfotably stayed in his chair. Suddenly, Marvin got a brilliant idea while reading a passage from his book. "Eureka!" Marvin shouted, knocking over his seat as he abruptly stood up. Everyone in the room stared at the mechanical genius and listened to his idea. "Why don't we lure Flyheight out off the Capital, send in two zoids to save the Emperor, all while a small battalion of our finest pilots eliminate him and his minion Raven!" Everybody proceeded to sit down while Marvin walked to the front of the room and began explaining his idea in more detail. "We can use the digging capabilities of Dean's Venomous Viper and the speed and agility of Max's Command Wolf to finish any battles they might encounter quickly!" Marvin continued, erratically waving his hands to show his excitement. "Then JC, Guio, Joseph and the two ace RAT pilots will fight Van and Raven while the Republic and Imperial armies distract the bulk of the rebel army!" People started talking animatedly, discussing the ingenius strategy devised by Marvin. After a while, the representatives stood up and nodded their heads, agreeing with the mechanic's plan. "Okay, commence Operation Split Side!" The representative of the Republic announced, referring to the chosen name of the strategy. Max pumped the air with his fist and shouted out at the same time as his comrades. "Yessir!" RG kicked the seat of the sleeping JC and rushed out the Whale King discussion room, waking up the above average pilot. Stretching his arms and yawning, JC slowly stood up. "Wazzup? What I miss?" He said, his eyes scanning the room 


	12. Never give up

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
Hello! I'm back after a long week of exams! I've got great new ideas for the plot!  
  
7 Gojulas, giant dinosaur zoids bristling with weaponry, shook the cracked ground with their gigantic feet as they closed in on the retreating form of Max's Command wolf Urban. The canine zoid turned around to escape the enormous machines but was cut off by more rebels, most of them Zaber Fangs and Gunsnipers. Surrounded from every direction, Max gripped his controls tightly and braced for battle as the numerous zoids aimed their various weapons at his zoid. "Let's go." In the blink of an eye, Max's Command Wolf was in the air firing its gatling gun at the rebels located at the back as the enemy zoids at the front hit each other with ammunition originally designated for the Preventer's zoid. Landing on the back of a Zaber Fang, Max leaped to the side as a Gojulas fired at his previous location, instantly obliterating a cluster of Gunsnipers. Max was rocked inside his cockpit as Zaber Fang rammed his zoid, crushing some of the Command Wolf's armor. Righting himself, Max dodged the next attempt and retaliated with a barrage of Marvin quality armor piercing shells. As the ravaged Zaber fell to the ruined streets of the Imperial Capital, Max was attacked again by another rebel, a Gunsniper with cannons instead of missile launchers on its back. Rolling under its attacker, the Command Wolf quickly stood up, flipping the Gunsniper like a waffle. Jumping up to avoid another burst of fire, Max smiled as the shells intended for him slammed into the Gunsniper he just toppled. With twenty more rebels to destroy, Max let out a warcry and stormed into the horde of enemies, craters appearing behind him every now and then as the silver Gojulas bombarded him. Max's spent shells littered the floor as he pummelled his opponents with all the remaining ammunition in his gatling gun. Zabers and Gunsnipers alike fell to their knees as Max rushed into the battle, his zoid shooting, biting and clawing away the opposition. "Eat this!!!" Max yelled in the face of one of the many nameless soldiers he was fighting and jammed his oversized gun in the gaping jaws of a Gunsniper, ripping away flesh and steel as bullets streamed out of the muzzles of his gatling gun. The Command Wolf vaulted into the smoky air of the Imperial Capital, somersaulting over the stunned rebels like an acrobat. Grabbing a Zaber by the leg with his zoid's powerful jaws, Max used the rebel as a shield as its comrades' shells penetrated the Zaber's hide. Before the other rebels had the slightest knowledge of his actions, Max's Command Wolf was in the smack middle of the 5 remaining zoids. Glancing behind him, Max smiled with glee as he jumped away from the stunned rebels and watched them disappear in a ball of fire as a Gojulas desperately tried to lock onto the agile Command Wolf. The zoids, a lone Command Wolf against 7 Gojulas, stood still as the pilots sized each other up. After tense silence, Max broke the face-off as he dashed at the Gojulas firing his gun at the leg of one. The bullets merely bounced off and the Gojulas traded situations with Max as they pelted the ground with their highly explosive projectiles while the Command Wolf ran around, trying to escape the onslaught. Unfortunately for the solo Preventer, a fallen building that was toppled by the attacks of the giant dinosaur zoids blocked his way like a giant wall sealing of the fianl hopes of survival Max had. Finally, the Gojulas' repeated attacks paid off as a shell exploded mere feet away from the right leg of the Command Wolf. But Max didn't give up even though his life was obviously compromised with his damaged zoid. Sparks flew from the wounded appendage as the Command Wolf leaped at a rebel Gojulas despite the obvious tilt of the odds in favor of his far bigger and powerful opponents. Trying a new tactic, Max's canine zoid peeled off the multi-layered armor of the rebel powerhouses while his back legs dug into the Gojulas for support. Then as quickly as he thought of that specific strategy, Max pushed his zoid's acceleration levers to their full capacity and sent his Command Wolf flying over the enraged rebel as he zoomed over the cockpit and landed on another Gojulas as deftly as a frog. As Max expected, the second Gojulas aimed directly at the spot he was at a few moments ago and fired at the gaping hole that Max's Command Wolf dug with its razor sharp claws. An immense explosion rocked Max in his cockpit as the Gojulas he was originally perched on blew up with a spectacular, and unplanned, display of fireworks. "Woohoo!" Max yelled as he stuck his gatling gun in the face of the Gojulas he was on and let loose with a barrage of destructive steel. The rebel zoid promptly started to collapse on its own weight and unbalanced Max's zoid. But the wily Preventer had a few more aces up his sleeve and shifted his Command Wolf's weight distribution and stance, thus altering the fall of the Gojulas and sending it crushing down on its own ally. Max landed deftly on his zoid's four feet and surveyed the 3 downed Gojulas and stared at the remaining. Preparing for another attack with renewed confidence. "Aaaah!!!" Max yelled as a totally unexpected jolt of electricity shocked every nerve of his body. He clutched his singed arm and winced as he looked at his zoid's vital statistics, failing fast as he realized that a Zaber Fang that he didn't finish off earlier was sinking its elongated fangs into the already injured right leg. The panels around him turned a warning shade of red as the Zaber removed its oil-soaked fangs from the damaged limb. "Command Wolf, relay this message to my friends RG, Guio, Dean, Marvin, Joseph, Jico and JC. I don't think we can scrap through this battle." Max said his final message and compulsively grabbed his bleeding stomach. "Old buddy, one more thing I want you to do. Set up the Ragnarok Fang attack." Max said, every syllable a painstaking effort. His dying zoid hummed in agreement and Max watched as the panel that read "Ragnarok Fang" popped out from the side of the cockpit. "My brother died defending our village with this attack. Guess it runs in the blood." The Ragnarok Fang was the final attack of every Command Wolf in the world, preprogrammed in every of their cores. It was even more powerful and devastating than the Charged Particle Beam of Raven, capable of destroying more than 2 hundred zoids in a single charge. Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect weapon and the Ragnarok Fang had one major downside. With the tremendous power of a zoid's core rushing into the fangs, the obvious outcome was an overkill resulting in the explosive end of the pilot and the Command Wolf in question. When Max was young, his older brother engaged in combat with the original rebels to protect their village. After a grueling battle that left most zoid pilots in the village dead, Max's brother resorted to the Ragnarok Fang, demolishing half a mountainside and all of the rebels. This was actually the original reason that made Max join the Preventers, though in time Max started fighting for peace and not for revenge like JC. "I never give up. Not now, not ever." Were the final words of Max as his zod leaped on top of the stupid Zaber, crushing its back and quickly ending its life. Max noticed that the Gojulas had called for reinforcements and that at least ¼ of the rebel army was closing in on him like lightning. His Command Wolf gave a last roar as ammunition blasted into it like rain. Even though Max's faithful zoid was literally falling to pieces, the intense emotions of a dead man walking surging through every single part of the canine zoid's body like a thousand gallons of nitrus oxide pumping in a car powered it through the steel hail and burning fire and led it right at a stunned Gojulas. Jumping on the frantic Gojulas, Max yelled a warcry that shook the snow of the peaks of the tallest mountains and pressed the trigger, which activated the Ragnarok Fang. The Command Wolf's cracked fangs dug into the exposed neck of the rebel zoid like twin knives cutting through flesh as easily as a hot knife through butter. Energy greater than anything currently on the planet with the exception of the Zoid Eve flowed out of the Command Wolf's fangs like a broken dam releasing all the water stored in it. A nanosecond later, both Max and his zoid disappeared in a blinding flash of light and heat as a gigantic explosion rocked the very foundations of the Imperial Capital. The fireball grew and grew, eating up all the foolish reinforcements that came to aid their comrades and leaving only the slightest trace of a zoid behind. The nova slowly diminished and vanished completely, only sparing the burned out remains of a brave Command Wolf.  
  
A few minutes before. Van Flyheight and his Blade Liger stood a few feet away from a raven-black Gunsniper and its companions, his zoid sizing up the valiant Preventers. Slitting his eyes as his scan passed over the heavily modified Gunsniper of JC, the psychotic mastermind began his oh-so cliché "evil scheme to conquer the world and degrade your most likely killers" speech. He gritted his teeth as he suddenly remembered why he came out in the open. "Damn you all. You used Fiona and Zeke to lure me here and impulse drove me to take the bait." He said angrily then became the all so suave deranged rebel leader again, dropping the emotionally challenged alter ego like a hot potato. "You want to kill me so that my troops will lose hope and surrender, don't you?" He continued, Marvin replying with a confident nod accompanied by a smile. "You also wanted me out here alone so that the 5 of you cowards could easily defeat me." The once most powerful pilot on Planet Zi said, Joseph flinching slightly at the sound of "coward". RG smiled tauntingly to the apparently doomed pilot. "But. I too play dirty." At the sound of these words, a Dibison, Lightning Saix, Genobreaker and Shadow Fox appeared from behind a sand dune like wraiths obeying their leader. At one glance, the well-trained Joseph knew who they were. Memories of soldiers who assisted Van Flyheight came to mind instantly. Irvine, renegade Lightning Saix pilot, and Thomas, technological genius and Dibison pilot. He also knew that Raven piloted the Genobreaker, but who was the Shadow Fox? "Oh yes, I forgot to introduce my newest ally in this crusade for peace. Meet Jacob." At this remark, JC's stomach gave an almighty lurch as he gaped in sheer disbelief. Jacob's cold heartless face appeared on the black Gunsniper's cockpit, leering at the shocked pilot inside. JC involuntarily remembered all the times the 2 boys shared together in their small village on the outskirts of the Elemia desert. The camping under the stars with their dads, fishing in the oasis and many more moments that made up his childhood. Then, a horrible thought formed in JC's mind, what if. "You planned the destruction of our home." JC said slowly, Jacob replying casually as if he did that sort of cold-blooded act everyday. "Yep. That stupid little village was hindering my true potential as a zoid pilot. If you were half the warrior I was, you would have done the same." JC shook his head in disgust and anger and leaped at the Shadow Fox of Jacob, only to be stopped by the Shadow Fox of Marvin. "I have a plan." Marvin whispered, again utilizing his immense amount of gray matter in his advanced brain. " The fact that their zoids are the same as ours is quite an advantage. We can fight them separately to minmize friendly fire and confusion." Marvin quietly dictated to the impulsive JC. As if on cue, RG and Joseph's faces appeared, Guio's follows shortly. Guio was the first to remark. "Ha! I'll show that hotshot Irvine!" Guio said in an unnaturally reckless voice. RG scowled and discussed the matter as their opponents watched on in mock fright. "Most of the techniques I use were developed by Thomas Schuboltz." Joseph disagreed with RG with a far louder scowl. "Max always told us to never give up. What the!?!" A loud explosion cut off Joseph's remark, the shockwave knocking all the zoids, Preventer and rebel alike off their feet and onto the burning sand. "What the hell!!!" JC shouted, Marvin instantly computing the energy level and where it came from. "Oh my good Lord. That was Max's Command Wolf." Marvin said letting his fingers slide off from the table as he started feeling dizzy. JC blinked and let his jaw drop as comprehension dawned on him. Van Flyheight righted his zoid with the expertise of a man who did it all years ago and still does. "Looks like your friend used the Ragnarok Fang attack. Pity, that man was a good pilot." RG gritted his teeth as emotions of anger, hatred and grief washed over him like a cold bucket of water. JC's zoid lunged at the off-guard Blade Liger and started what would be 5 of 7 of the greatest battles ever fought on Planet Zi as RG, Joseph, Guio and Marvin followed suit and attacked their respective opponents. Marvin streaked for Jacob and his Shadow Fox while RG fired at the Dibison and Joseph pounced on the Genobreaker. Guio sped off toward the edge of the desert, tailing him was Irvine and his own black Lightning Saix.  
  
Jico was tinkering with the advanced support systems of the Death Saurer inside the expansive rebel fortress. Humming as he deconstructed the most sophisticated piece of zoid resurrecting mechanics like a boy dismantling a toy block castle, Jico looked over the console he was "modifying" and saw his comrades putting up a valiant fight to distract the attention of the guards. He smiled his bunny smile and grabbed a grenade similar to the one he used to freeze the first group of rebels he and his fellow Preventers met. He removed the various mechanisms located in the explosive tenderly and picked out the freezing liquid container as to avoid unnecessary freezing of him. He stealthily moved in the shadows like an animal and jumped on the back of the giant force called the Death Saurer. It used up all his skill as a wall-climber, which wasn't a lot, to scale the ultra-smooth armor of the machine, which was as indestructible as it was almost impossible to grip. He panted as he reached what he was looking for, the particle converter necessary for the most powerful weapon on Zi, and unclapsed his suit's hip pocket. He extracted the freezing liquid container and a few other things he salvaged from the grenade and the machine he dismantled. He sat on the rim of the converter and concentrated on combining the parts like a man piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. After what seemed like eternity because of all the tension, Jico sighed a sigh of honest relief and placed the improvised gadget on the base of the converter. He jumped back down to join his teammates, 6 of them lying on the cold steel floor with their mouths dripping blood, and signalled them to run away and head to their zoids. The guys nodded and ran out the massive chamber while Jico hesitated as he watched a rebel start up the Death Saurer, which was modified to be autopilot, a fact Jico discovered while tinkering with the resurrection machine. "Things are heating up now. Hope we make it out alright." End of chapter  
  
Kinda depressing since I patterned Lt. Max after myself. 


	13. True Kings of the Skies

Zoids: Counterforce  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
Jico sweated profusely as he frantically evaded the Death Saurer's multiple weapons. Thousands of black spikes, similar to the ones JC installed into his Guunsniper, rained down behind the fleeing Helcat. "The rebels really come prepared." Jico thought as he contemplated on the multiple calculations required to bring the Death Saurer back to life, reequip with the most sophisticated weaponry available and program an autopilot system into it. He began to think of the immense cost of those gadgets but was flung back to reality as a spike dug into the icy ground of the Isolina mountain range mere centimeters away from Jico's Helcat. "More important things to worry about now!" He said as he swung his body in sync with his swerving zoid as gunfire erupted from the black monstrosity called the Death Saurer and blasted holes in the ground. The giant zoid had a perfectly good reason for only attacking the Helcat as the other Preventers fell prey to its initial bombardment of spikes. Jico shook violently in his cockpit as stray bullets exploded onto his zoid's leg. Without losing his composure one tiny bit, Jico pulled his zoid's control levers in reverse, watching as his red and dull silver Helcat ducked and avoided a barrage of ammunition. The Preventer zoid rolled to avoid a burst of lasers and finally retaliated with his twin cannons. He gaped in disbelief, as the explosive shells didn't even dull the shiny armor of the Death Saurer, the ammunition harmlessly detonating off like a bubble popping on contact with skin. "Not even a dent." He shook off the awe and leaped backwards, avoiding more lasers. This time however, the Death Saurer fired its guns simultaneously and scored multiple hits on the Helcat. The pain his zoid felt equaling his shock, Jico blinked as an impossible thought entered his brain. "The control unit has learning capacity, just like a human pilot!" He concentrated again as another attack headed his way seconds after he righted his zoid. His zoid rolled on its side again, blasting cannon fire like a gatling gun as lasers seared the snowy floor a few feet away. The Helcat jumped backward and fired repeatedly as the Death Saurer struggled to retain its lock. A shell exploded against the forehead-based gun barrel and finally had some effect on the Death Saurer as it roared in anger. Jico smiled and the first happy thought flashed through his mind. "The most advanced computer in the world is the human brain. No bloody autopilot can beat me!" He locked his dual cannons onto the forehead and strafed down the beast, rocking with every attack. The Death Saurer wss unable to counter the assault, as the site was Jico was aiming was in fact the location of the computer systems that controlled the behemoth. The Preventer mechanic began to understand the situation and stopped firing as he realized his folly. "The autopilot is mind control! If I destroyed it, then the Death Saurer would attack freely!" The giant machine stopped, frozen in its place. Jico clutched his controls nervously, praying that he didn't destroy the computer within the Death Saurer's head. Apparently, God wasn't listening. The Death Saurer roared and ended the tense silence. Firing all its weapons concurrently, Jico was forced to go beyond his zoid's conventional powers, panic overcoming him like a poison. He weaved in and out, dodging the sporadic bursts of missiles, endless gunfire and streaming lasers. A red-hot laser burned off his zoid's cannons and ammunition slammed into his Helcat's side. Jico's zoid crashed into the ground and fell to the floor, as helpless as a kitten. The Death Saurer charged up its final weapon, the Charged Particle Beam, and aimed it straight at the limp form of Jico's Helcat. A ball of energy formed in the gaping jaws of the black monster and grew larger and larger as it charged up. "Fortunately, I have a backup plan o great idiot." Jico pulled out a trigger from his pocket and pressed on the button, activating the earlier implanted bomb. "Please work." Jico prayed, and this time, God answered. The upper part of the Death Saurer's torso exploded in a massive explosion, the freezing agent shutting down the CPB converter and causing a devastating chain reaction. Flaming bits of the most powerful zoid ever rained on Jico'damaged yet victorious Helcat and inside, Jico laughed. "That's one for the history books!"  
  
Meanwhile, JC was engaged in the most heated battle of all time with the greatest pilot of Planet Zi. Gunsniper fought Blade Liger and were locked in intense competition, both pilots fighting for revenge and peace. Aside from the fact that the pilots were currently trying to rip each other's zoid to shreds, the two rivals were almost eerily alike. Both belonged to a military group, had rivals other than themselves and were trying to recover things they held dear. Van and JC both wanted the impossible, for Van, he wanted his dear Fiona back from the dead, for JC, he yearned for his village. But none of the 2 bothered with this thought as they fought madly, similar to 2 dogs quarrelling over a bone called peace. JC was trying to find a way to penetrate the nigh invincible energy shield surrounding the ocean blue Liger with his vast array of weaponry. Armor piercing bullets disentegrated upon contact with the pure energy and missiles exploded harmlessly as JC threw everything he had at the steely rebel leader. "Damn. Gotta save ammo or I'm finished." JC said and checked over his zoid's deathly black shoulder to make sure his companions were doing all right. Unfortunately, they weren't. Jacob was obviously the superior pilot as he chased Marvin's Shadow Fox around in a deadly game of predator and prey. RG and his opponent, Thomas, were stuck in a stalemate of skills as their Dibison locked metal horns with each other, desperately trying to unbalance their foe. Raven was warding of Joseph's Shneider unit with his shield and pincers, blasting the ex-special forces soldier with multiple blasts from the awesome charged particle beam. The 2 Lightning Saix of Guio and the freestyle Irvine were racing across the desert, testing each other's endurance and skills with a few blasts from the Lightning Saix's dual cannons. "This would have been a lot easier if Max's cousins were here!" JC angrily thought as his zoid ducked to avoid a swooping cut from Flyheight's powerful blades.  
  
Ian and Nico raced through the blue skies above the Isolina Mountain range and speeded of to aid the Preventers in their battle with Van Flyheight. Giving thumbs up down to Jico, currently examining the wreckage of the incapacitated Death Saurer, as they passed the rebel base that was now in ruins after the berserk attack of the Death Saurer. Nico warily scanned the airspace directly ahead of the ace flyers, noting two black specks hovering suspisciously by a mountain peak. Tapping a command into his Storm Sworder's onboard computer, Nico sent a signal to his elder brother, Ian, to scope out the unidentified zoids. Ian nodded to his sibling and started up his 3D mapping system, only to discover that they might be a bit tardy in helping JC. "Black Redlers." He sent a message to Nico to confirm that they were the infamous Aerial Devils. Nico grinned and laughed the last laugh he'll ever have inside his zoid. "Let's go, bro! We'll finish our team's mission right here and right now." Nico said as he pressed down on his zoid's acceleration levers and held on as his Storm Sworder dived toward the 2 Redlers with amazing speed. Ian sighed and pushed his zoid even faster, confirming his sibling superiority to Nico as he overtook his zooming brother. The 2 RAT pilots streaked right at the apparently bored Aerial Devils like silver lightning, only to find out why their rivals were so complacent. Extending his ethereal blades, Ian swooped down on the new Aerial Devil, Martin, as if this was his last battle. In reality it was his zoid's. Stunning Ian with his amazing skills, Martin pulled back his black Redler's controls and flipped it in midair, miliseconds before he would have been sushi. Nico gaped as he watched Martin trade places with his brother, losing control and almost slamming into a rock wall before he even reached Enzo. After rebalancing his silver Storm Sworder, Nico blinked as he realized that Enzo was nowhere to be found. "How the?" An impossible idea came to mind and Nico alternated his levers, to face the deadly power of Enzo. Directly behind him was the Redler of his opponent, weapons targetted at his face as the original Aerial Devil smirked. "You really aren't that good." Enzo said cockily and began the chase through the icy mountains. Ian pushed his zoid to the limit as he weaved in and out, dodging both missiles and cliffside as Martin tailed him, perfectly behind the Storm Sworder. "I should have outrun him already!" Ian thought as the Redler matched his speed flawlessly, unleashing hell on the poor Storm Sworder with his multiple weapons. Ian swerved sharply, hoping to out class the Aerial Devil with his Storm Sworder's agility. Unluckily, this was to no avail as the Redler flew right over the mountain and used gravity to close in on the lightning-fast RAT zoid. Nico was frantically trying to get a lock on the unbelievably fast Enzo, who was currently evading everything Nico could throw at him. Enzo sighed as a missile passed over his deathly colored Redler; the spot were he wasseconds before. Again he evaded another burst of gunfire and retaliated with a weapon the rebels kept under caps for months. "Eat this, RAT scum!" Enzo yelled at the second generation of the team he hated and detested, simultaneously firing two oversized missiles right at the Storm Sworder of Nico. Nico spun his zoid and looked back at the rebel's smug look, instead of an expected shock. "Why?" Nico said then turned around, then stared in stunned awe as the missiles collided and burst into miniature bomblets, headed straight for his silver flying-type zoid. Nico screamed in pain as electricity surged through his cockpit with every bomblet exploding and releasing jolts of lightning. His zoid plummeted downwards, Nico desperately trying to pull up to avoid sure death by means of rock wall. Seconds before his Storm Sworder hit the surface; its wings gave an almighty flap and headed straight up at the horrified Enzo. The underbelly of the silver zoid scraped the ground, revealing the inner workings of a damaged Storm Sworder, oil spilling out. He spun his zoid and pulled out the forehead blade, which cut into feet of solid rock, as he used the saber to gain traction and reverse his zoid's trajectory. He zoomed right at the stunned Aerial Devil and gained even more speed than normal with his cracked and splintered engines. Enzo tried to pull away with his undamaged Redler to no use as the dying Storm Sworder ignored the falling machinery and crippled technology and sliced through the most powerful air fighter of all time. Meanwhile, Ian was losing badly, the Redler a few feet away from his tail. Everything he had was useless and had no effect on the Aerial Devil who shrugged off bombs, missiles and bullets. Finally, a thought hit Ian that was so ingenius that he would surely be the triumphant one in this battle. But, again, every good thing has a weak point somewhere. "If I cant outrun his zoid, why don't I slow down? I'll crash into his zoid and surely destroy him! But how about my battered Storm Sworder?" Ian contemplated. "No! I will win without sacrificing my zoid!" Ian gripped his acceleration levers tightly and pushed them until they started bending from the strain. "Watch this!" Ian thought as his zoid moved far more quickly than to conventional capabilities. The Redler pilot, Martin pushed his controls as hard as he could to keep up to the Storm Sworder. The 2 zoids raced faster and faster until their zoids began falling apart from the immense pressure being forced on them. Ian looked grim as he speeded towards a mountain, the Redler right on his tail. "This is what I can really do!!!" Ian yelled as he changed his zoid's control levers from horizontally located to an upright position. "I also have technology on my side!" The RAT pilot shouted at the calm rebel as he apparently headed straight for his doom. "This guy's finished." Martin thought as he watched the Storm Sworder meet head on with the mountainside. But Ian didn't. His zoid spun like a top and faced the black Redler, gunning down its wings with his guns. His zoid shot upward as Martin screamed in fear as his zoid, lacking control, smashed onto the rocky wall. A fireball flickered briefly as Ian's fatally injured zoid hung precariously over the peak. He saw his brother and the flaming wreckage of the once most powerful dogfighter ever and fell unconscious, his now-dead zoid falling to the ground like a rocket as Nico's also destroyed Storm Sworder plummeted with him. A thought ventured into his head just before he passed out. "I wasn't able to save you, Storm Sworder."  
  
End of chapter  
  
Next chapter: the greatest battles on the face of Planet Zi! Who will be victorious? The psychopatic Van Flyheight and his followers or the determined heroes of the Preventers? 


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